Ukraine MH17 initial crash report due

Ukraine MH17 initial crash report due

THE HAGUE - A highly anticipated preliminary report into what brought down Malaysia flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine will be released on Tuesday, hoping to shed light on the air disaster that claimed the lives of 298 passengers.

The air crash team led by investigators from the Netherlands will release its report at 0800 GMT on the website of the Dutch Safety Board (OVV).

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 exploded over eastern Ukraine en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17, killing all on board including 193 Dutch citizens.

The West has accused Russian-backed separatists of shooting down the plane with a Moscow-supplied surface-to-air missile. Russia has blamed Ukrainian forces.

Dutch investigators have been unable to visit the site in the war-torn Donetsk region due to the continued fighting and have relied on information from Ukrainian crash specialists for information from the scene.

OVV spokeswoman Sara Vernooij told AFP: "It is certainly possible to draw meaning fulconclusions without having been to the scene."

However, the OVV has stressed the report will not affix blame.

Investigators are expected to make findings based on information from the aircraft’s black boxes, and pictures and video taken at the scene, as well as information supplied by Ukranian air traffic control.
AFP

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/Ukraine-MH17-initial-crash-report-due-30242861.html


-- The Nation 2014-09-09