Stream Name: MHRDM

Subject Name:
Name of Topic:
Malaysian Airlines

First Year
Personnel Law
Shooting Down of
Plane MH17

Name: Yash Doshi

Branch: First Year MHRDM (2014-2017)
Roll No: 14 - H - 08

Introduction
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17/MAS17) was a scheduled international passenger
flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that crashed on 17 July 2014, presumed to
have been shot down, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board. The Boeing
777-200ER airliner lost contact about 50 km (31 mi) from the UkraineRussia border
and crashed near Torez in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, 40 km (25 mi) from the border,
[3]

over territory controlled by pro-Russian separatists. The crash occurred during

the Battle in Shakhtarsk Raion, part of the ongoing war in Donbass, in an area
1

controlled by the Donbass People's Militia. According to American and German

intelligence sources, the plane was shot down by pro-Russian separatists using
a Buk surface-to-air missile fired from the territory which they controlled. The Russian
government blamed the Ukrainian Government.
The Dutch Safety Board is currently leading an investigation into the incident and issued
a preliminary report on 9 September 2014; a final accident report is expected in mid2015. Evidence from open sources indicated that separatists in Ukraine were in control
of a Buk missile launcher on 17 July and transported it from Donetsk to Snizhne. This is
based on tracing the path of the missile, analysis of shrapnel patterns in the wreckage,
voice print analysis of separatists' conversations in which they claimed credit for the
strike, and that photos and other data from social media sites all indicated that Russianbacked separatists had fired the missile. Immediately after the crash, a post appeared
on the VKontakte social media website attributed to Igor Girkin, leader of the Donbass
separatists, claiming responsibility for shooting down an AN-26, but after it became
clear that a civilian aircraft had been shot down, the separatists denied any involvement,
and the post was taken down. Russia has said that Ukraine "bears full, total
responsibility" for the crash because it happened in Ukrainian airspace. The Ukrainian
government says the missile was launched by "Russian professionals and coordinated
from Russia". Malaysia said intelligence reports on the downing of MH17 were "pretty
conclusive", but more investigation was necessary to be certain that a surface to air
missile brought down the plane, after which they would look at the criminal side. The
German Federal Intelligence Service concluded that the plane was shot down by proRussian separatists using a captured Ukrainian Buk system.
The crash of MH17 was the fifth Boeing 777 hull loss, the third in just over a year. With
298 deaths, MH17 is the deadliest air incident in Ukraine and the deadliest airliner
shootdown in history. The crash was Malaysia Airlines' worst incident and its second of
the year, after the unrelated disappearance of MH370 on 8 March, en route to Beijing
from Kuala Lumpur.

Aircraft
Flight 17 was operated with a Boeing 777-2H6ER, serial number 28411, registration
9M-MRD.[26] The 84th Boeing 777 produced, it first flew on 17 July 1997, exactly 17
years before the incident, and was delivered new to Malaysia Airlines on 29 July
1997. Powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent 892 engines and carrying up to 282
passengers (35business and 247 economy), the aircraft had recorded more than 43,000
hours in 6,950 cycles before the crash. The preliminary report issued by Dutch Safety
Board concluded that "according to the documents, the aircraft was in an airworthy
condition at departure, there were no known technical malfunctions."
The Boeing 777, which entered commercial service on 7 June 1995, has one of the best
safety records in commercial aircraft. In June 2014 there were about 1,212 aircraft in
service, with 340 more on order.

Passengers and crew

People on board by nationality

Nation

Number

Australia

27

Belgium

Canada

Germany

Indonesia

12

Malaysia

43

Netherlands

193

New Zealand

Philippines

People on board by nationality

Nation

Number

United Kingdom

10

Total

298

All 283 passengers and 15 crew died. The crew were Malaysian and about two-thirds of
the passengers were Dutch, while many of the other passengers were Australians and
Malaysians. By 19 July, the airline had determined the nationalities of all 298
passengers and crew.
Among the passengers were delegates en route to the 20th International AIDS
Conference in Melbourne, including Joep Lange, a former president of the International
AIDS Society, which organized the conference. Many initial reports erroneously
indicated 100 delegates to the conference were aboard, but this was later revised to
six. Also on board were Dutch senator Willem Witteveen, Australian authorLiam
Davison, and Malaysian actress Shuba Jay.
At least twenty family groups were on board the aircraft, and eighty of the passengers
were children.
The flight had two captains, Wan Amran Wan Hussin of Kuala Kangsar and Eugene
Choo Jin Leong of Seremban, and two copilots, Ahmad Hakimi Hanapi and Muhd
Firdaus Abdul Rahim.

Background
A few airlines started to avoid eastern Ukrainian airspace in early March in the wake of
the 2014 Crimean crisis, including Korean Air, Asiana Airlines and British Airways. In
April, the International Civil Aviation Organization warned governments that there was a
risk to commercial passenger flights over Ukraine. The American Federal Aviation
Administration issued restrictions on flights over Crimea, to the south of MH17's route,
and advised airlines flying over some other parts of Ukraine to "exercise extreme
4

caution". This warning did not include the MH17 crash region. 37 airlines continued
overflying eastern Ukraine and about 900 flights crossed the Donetsk region in the
seven days until the Boeing 777 was shot down, with Aeroflot, Singapore
Airlines, Ukraine International Airlines, Lufthansa and Malaysia Airlines being the most
active carriers.
Since the start of the conflict, several Ukrainian Air Force aeroplanes have been
downed. On 14 June, an Air Force Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft was shot down on approach
to Luhansk International Airport; all 49 people on board died. On 29 June, Russian news
agencies reported that insurgents had gained access to a Buk missile system after
having taken control of a Ukrainian air defence base. On the same day, the Donetsk
People's Republic claimed possession of such a system in a since-deleted tweet.
On 15 July, following his visit to Kiev, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosaw
Sikorski warned about the dangers posed by the continued Russian military support for
pro-Russian separatists, especially ground-to-air missiles. On the same day,
an Associated Press journalist saw a Buk launcher in Snizhne, a town in Donetsk
Oblast that is 16 kilometres (10 mi) southeast of the crash site. The reporter also saw
seven separatist tanks at a petrol station near the town.[69] Associated Press journalists
reported that the Buk M-1 was operated by a man "with unfamiliar fatigues and a
distinctive Russian accent" escorted by two civilian vehicles. The battle around Saur
Mogila has been suggested as the possible context within which the missile that brought
down MH17 was fired, as separatists deployed increasingly sophisticated anti-aircraft
weaponry in this battle, and had brought down several Ukrainian jets in July.
The airspace above Donetsk Oblast was closed by Ukraine below 26,000 feet (7,900 m)
on 1 July 2014 and, on 14 July, below 32,000 feet (9,800 m). The route in Russian
airspace that MH17 would have taken was closed below 32,000 feet (9,800 m) by
Russian air control a few hours before the airliner took off. As with other countries
Ukraine receives overflight fees for every commercial aircraft that flies through their
borders. This may have contributed to the continued availability of civilian flight paths
through the conflict zone.
5

Crash
On 17 July 2014, Flight 17 departed from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol Gate G03 at
12:14 CEST (10:14 UTC) and was due to arrive at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at
06:00, 18 July MYT (22:00, 17 July UTC).
According to the original flight plan, MH17 was to fly over Ukraine at flight level 330
(33,000 feet or 10,060 metres) and then change to FL 350 around Dnipropetrovsk.
When it reached the area as planned, at 12:53 UTC Dnipropetrovsk Air Control (Dnipro
Control) asked MH17 if they could climb to FL 350 as planned, and also to avoid a
potential separation conflict with another flight at FL 330. The crew asked to remain at
FL 330 and the air control approved this request, moving the other flight to FL 350. At
13:00 UTC the crew asked for diversion of 20 NM to the left (north) due to weather
conditions. This request was also approved by Dnipro Control. The crew then asked if
they could climb to FL 340, which was rejected as this flight level was not available at
that time, and MH17 remained at FL 330. At 13:19 UTC Dnipro Control noticed that the
flight was 3.6 NM north from the centerline of approved track and instructed MH17 to
return to the track. At 13:19 UTC Dnipro Control contacted Russian air control
in Rostov-on-Don (RND) over telephone and requested clearance for transferring the
flight to Russian air control. After obtaining the permission, Dnipro Control attempted to
contact MH17 and pass them the details of Rostov-on-Don track at 13:20 UTC. After
MH17 did not respond to several calls, Dnipro Control contacted RND again to check if
they could see the Boeing on their radar. RND confirmed that the plane had
disappeared.
The Dutch Safety Board reported a last flight data recording at 13:20 UTC, located west
of the urban-type settlement Rozsypne, heading 115 at 494 knots. Three other
commercial aircraft were in the same area when the Malaysian plane crashed including
a Singapore Airlines and Air India jet, with the closest being 30 km (19 mi) away.
The aircraft crashed outside Hrabove, near Torez in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast,
with debris spread over a 34 square kilometres (13 sq mi) area to the west and
6

northwest of Hrabove. The fireball on impact is believed to have been captured on

video. Photographs from the site of the crash show scattered pieces of
broken fuselage and engine parts, bodies, and passports. Some of the wreckage fell
close to houses. Dozens of bodies fell into crop fields, and some fell into houses.

Aftermath
About 90 minutes after the incident, Ukraine closed all routes in eastern Ukrainian
airspace, at all altitudes. The incident heightened fears about airliner shootdowns,
leading a number of airlines to announce they would avoid overflying conflict zones.
It was suggested that credit and debit cards may have been looted from the bodies of
the victims, and the Dutch Banking Association said it would take "preventative
measures" against any possible fraud. There were also accusations that other
possessions had been removed and that evidence at the crash site had been
destroyed. Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte acknowledged on 6 August that early
reports of chaos and criminality around the site may have been exaggerated. One eyewitness observed that valuable items like shoes and bottles of alcohol were untouched
in the wreckage.
Shortly after the crash, it was announced that Malaysia Airlines would retire flight
number MH17 and change the AmsterdamKuala Lumpur route to flight number MH19
beginning on 25 July. On 18 July 2014, shares in Malaysia Airlines dropped by nearly
16%.
On 23 July, two Ukrainian military jets were hit by missiles at the altitude of 17,000 feet
(5,200 m) close to the area of the MH17 crash. According to the Ukraine Security
Council, preliminary information indicated that the missiles came from Russia.

Investigation
Two parallel investigations are led by the Dutch. One is into the cause of the crash, and
a second investigation is a criminal inquiry. The Dutch Defence Ministry said work had
not yet started to recover parts of the wreckage for the air crash investigation.
Representatives from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
"were still in talks" with separatists on behalf of the Dutch Government.The investigation
is expected to continue until August 2015.
Initial attempts
On the day of the crash, a meeting was convened of the Trilateral Contact Group
(consisting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the
Ukrainian national government, and Russia). After they had held a video conference
with representatives of insurgents affiliated with the Donetsk People's Republic (who
control the area where the aircraft crashed), the rebels promised to "provide safe
access and security guarantees" to "the national investigation commission" by cooperating with Ukrainian authorities and OSCE monitors. During the first two days of
investigation, the militants prevented the OSCE and the workers of Ukrainian
Emergencies Ministry from freely working at the crash site. Andre Purgin, a leader of the
Donetsk People's Republic, declared later that "we will guarantee the safety of
international experts on the scene as soon as Kiev concludes a ceasefire agreement".
On 18 July, it was reported that the flight recorders had been recovered by
separatists. On the same day, the head of Donetsk Regional State Administration,
Kostiantyn Batozky, stated that both flight recorders had been found. On 21 July,
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said that he had been told by Alexander Borodai,
leader of the Donetsk People's Republic, that the black boxes would be handed over to
Malaysian authorities. Later that day, the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice
recorder were handed over to Malaysian officials in Donetsk by rebels. The black boxes
were examined at a facility operated by the UK AAIB. On 23 July it was reported that the

CVR was damaged but there was no evidence that it had been tampered with; it was
also reported that valid data had been downloaded.
Since 23 July an international investigation team is conducting off-site examination on
why the aircraft crashed. In agreement with the Ukrainian government, the Netherlands
are leading this investigation. The investigation team consists of 24 investigators with
members from Ukraine, Malaysia, Australia, Germany, the United States, the United
Kingdom and Russia. In addition to the international accident investigation, the selection
of the flight route will also be independently investigated by the Dutch Safety
Board. The National Bureau of Air Accidents Investigation of Ukraine (NBAAI) had
requested that the DSB participate in the international investigation; the DSB received
formal notice of the accident from the NBAAI on 18 July. The NBAAI, which lead an
international off- and on-site investigation during the first days after the crash, delegated
the investigation to the DSB because of the large number of Dutch passengers and the
fact that the flight originated in Amsterdam.
A Malaysian team of 133 officials and experts, comprising search and recovery
personnel, forensics experts, technical and medical experts arrived in Ukraine. Australia
sent a 45-member panel headed by former Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, who had
earlier supervised the MH 370 probe. The United Kingdom sent six investigators from
the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) and the UK Foreign Office has sent extra
consular staff to Ukraine. It took until late July that the full international team could start
working at the crash site, under the leadership of the Dutch Ministry of Defence.
On 30 July, a Ukrainian representative said that pro-Russian rebels had mined
approaches to the crash site and pulled heavy artillery around.
On 6 August, the experts left the crash site due to concerns about their safety. In midSeptember they attempted to regain access to the site but did not have any
success. On 13 October a Dutch-Ukrainian team resumed the recovery work.
A team of investigators at the Dutch Safety Board released a preliminary report into the
incident on 9 September, finding that the forward fuselage and cockpit section
9

apparently "was penetrated by a large number of high-energy objects" from the outside
and that this likely caused first the forward parts of the aircraft and then the remainder to
break up in the air.
Cause of crash
A mobile Buk surface-to-air missile launcher is believed to have been used in the
incident.
The cause of the crash has not yet been determined by the official investigation, which
is being carried out by the Dutch Safety Board. Both American and Ukrainian officials
declared that a surface-to-air missile strike is the most likely cause, and if so, then the
missile was fired from a mobile Soviet-designed Buk missile system (NATO reporting
name: SA-11 "Gadfly") as this is the only surface-to-air missile system in the region
capable of reaching the altitude of commercial air traffic. According to defence analyst
Reed Foster (from Jane's Information Group), the contour of the aluminium and the
blistering of the paint around many of the holes on the aircraft fragments indicate that
small pieces of high-velocity shrapnel entered the aircraft externally, a damage pattern
indicative of an SA-11. Ballistics specialist Stephan Fruhling of the Australian National
University's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre concurs with this, explaining that
since it struck the cockpit rather than an engine it was probably a radar guided, rather
than heat seeking, missile equipped with a proximity fuzed warhead such as a SA-11.
Shortly after the crash, Igor Girkin, leader of the Donbass separatists, was reported to
have posted on social media network VKontakte, taking credit for downing a
Ukrainian AN-26. The separatists later recanted and denied involvement after learning
that a civilian airliner had been downed, saying they did not have the equipment or
training to hit a target at that altitude.
Witnesses in Torez reported sightings on the day of the incident of what appeared to be
a Buk missile launcher, and AP journalists reported sightings of a Buk system in
separatist controlled Snizhne. The witness reports also backed up photographs and
videos which had been posted online, of the Buk launcher in rebel held territory.
10

On 19 July, Vitaly Nayda, the chief of the Counter Intelligence Department of

the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), told a news conference, "We have compelling
evidence that this terrorist act was committed with the help of the Russian Federation.
We know clearly that the crew of this system were Russian citizens." He cited what he
said were recorded conversations in which separatists expressed satisfaction to
Russian intelligence agents that they brought down an aeroplane. While one of the
involved persons acknowledged that these conversations took place, the separatists
denied that they were related to the crash of MH17 and blamed the Ukrainian
government for shooting it down. According to Nayda, a Buk launcher used in the
shootdown was moved back into Russia the night after the attack. The SBU released
another recording, which they said was of pro-Russian-separatist leader Igor
Bezler being told of an approaching aircraft two minutes before MH17 was shot down.
Bezler said the recording was real, but referred to a different incident. The SBU later
concluded that rebels intended to shoot down a Russian airliner in a false flag
operation to give Russia a pretext to invade Ukraine, but shot down MH17 by mistake.
Journalists from the Associated Press in Snizhne, Ukraine reported seeing a Buk M-1
enter the town operated by a man "with unfamiliar fatigues and a distinctive Russian
accent" escorted by two civilian vehicles, which then moved off in the direction where
the shootdown later occurred. According to Ukrainian counterterrorism chief, Vitaly
Nayda, after downing the plane under separatist direction, the launcher's Russian crew
quickly moved it back across the border into Russia.[70]
On 22 July, a soldier revealed to an Italian reporter that fellow separatists had told his
unit the aircraft had been shot down under the assumption that it was Ukrainian. This
information was verified and confirmed on the same day by a German
newspaper. Unnamed American intelligence officials stated that sensors that traced the
path of the missile, shrapnel patterns in the wreckage, voice print analysis of
separatists' conversations in which they claimed credit for the strike, and photos and
other data from social media sites all indicated that Russian-backed separatists had
fired the missile.

11

American officials said that satellite data from infrared sensors detected the explosion of
flight MH17. American intelligence agencies said that analysis of the launch plume and
trajectory suggested the missile was fired from an area between Torez and
Snizhne. Satellites are also likely to have registered the heat signature of the launch of
the missile and the activation of the missile launcher tracking radar. The Telegraph, a
British paper, said: "The Telegraph's own inquiries suggest the missile an SA-11 from
a Buk mobile rocket launcher was possibly fired from a cornfield about 12 miles to the
south of the epicentre of the crash site." Other sources suggest the missile was
launched from the separatist-controlled town of Chernukhino.[160] A number of other
media outlets including The Guardian, The Washington Post and the Sydney Morning
Heraldhave reported that the airplane is believed to have been downed by a rebel-fired
missile.
An unnamed American intelligence official stated that Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17
may have been shot down in error by pro-Russian separatists, citing evidence that
separatists launched a SA-11 surface-to-air missile that blew up the Malaysian airliner.
The official dismissed Russian allegations that MH17 took evasive action and said the
claim that the Ukrainian government had shot down MH17 was not realistic, as Kiev had
no such missile systems in that area, which was rebel-controlled. American intelligence
officials also said that Russia was attempting to disguise the flow of weaponry it was
delivering to the rebels by sending older weapons that matched Ukraine's inventory. The
British Foreign Office stated that it was "highly likely" that the missile was fired from area
controlled by Russian-backed separatists.
The Russian Ministry of Defense has maintained that American claims of separatist
responsibility were "unfounded", and said that the American intelligence agencies have
not released any of the data on which they based their conclusions. According to the
Russian military, in what the New York Magazine called "Russia's Conspiracy Theory",
MH17 was shot down by the Ukrainians, using either a surface to air missile or a fighter
plane.

12

On 21 July, the Russian Defence Ministry held a press conference and said that while
the Boeing 777 was crashing, a Ukrainian Su-25 ground-attack aircraft approached to
within 3 to 5 kilometres (1.9 to 3.1 mi) of the Malaysian airliner. The Ministry also stated
that satellite photographs showed that the Ukrainian army moved a Buk SAM battery to
the area close to the territory controlled by the rebels on the morning of 17 July, hours
before the crash. They said the installation was then moved away again by 18 July.
In an interview with Reuters on 23 July 2014, Alexander Khodakovsky, the commander
of the pro-Russian Vostok Battalion, acknowledged that the separatists had an antiaircraft missile of the type the Americans have said was used to shoot down the aircraft,
and said that it could have been sent back to Russia to remove proof of its presence; he
later retracted his comments, saying that he had been misquoted and stating that rebels
never had a Buk. In November 2014 he repeated that the separatists had a Buk
launcher at the time, but stated that the vehicle, under control of fighters from Luhansk,
had still been on its way to Donetsk when MH17 crashed. It was then retreated to avoid
being blamed.
On 28 July, Ukrainian security official Andriy Lysenko announced, at a press
conference, that black box recorder analysis had revealed that the aircraft had been
brought down by shrapnel that caused "massive explosive decompression." Dutch
officials were reported to be "stunned" by what they saw as a "premature
announcement" and said that they had not provided this information.
On 8 September, the BBC released new material by John Sweeney who cited three
civilian witnesses from Donbass who have seen the "Buk" launcher in the rebelcontrolled territory on the day when MH17 crashed. Two witnesses said the crew of the
launcher and a military vehicle escorting it did not have local accents and spoke
with Muscoviteaccents. On the same day Igor Ostanin, a Russian journalist, published
an analysis of photos and films of "Buk" units moving in Russia and Ukraine in the days
before and after the MH17 crash. According to Ostanin, the markings on the specific
launcher suspected of being used to shoot MH17, together with lorry registration plates
suggest that it belongs to 53rd Kursk Brigade of Russian anti-aircraft defence troops.
13

On 19 October the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) presented a detailed

analysis with extensive evidence which concluded that pro-Russian separatists had
used a captured Ukrainian "Buk" system to shoot down Flight MH17, that Ukraine had
published manipulated photographs, and that "Russian claims the missile had been
fired by Ukrainian soldiers and that a Ukrainian fighter jet had been flying close to the
passenger jet were false." The Attorney General of Germany opened an investigation
against unknown persons due to a suspected war crime.
Recovery of bodies
A Ukraine Foreign Ministry representative said that the bodies found at the crash site
would be taken to Kharkiv for identification, a city 270 kilometres (170 mi) to the north.
By the day after the crash, emergency workers said that 181 of the 298 bodies had
been found.
Al Jazeera reported that the separatist Minister of Health had initially confirmed 38
bodies had been moved to the Donetsk mortuary, which the minister subsequently
recanted. Bodies were observed being moved, placed in body bags, and loaded on to
lorries.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte complained about the lack of respect shown to the
personal belongings of the dead which were reportedly looted. He initially announced
his disgust about the handling of the bodies of the casualties that were reportedly being
"dragged around" and "thrown", but later stated the bodies were handled with more care
than originally estimated. On 20 July, Ukrainian emergency workers, observed by armed
separatists, began loading the remains of the passengers of MH17 into refrigerated
railway wagons for transport and identification.
On 21 July, pro-Russian rebels allowed Dutch investigators to examine the bodies. By
this time, according to Ukrainian officials 272 bodies had been recovered. Remains left
Torez on a train on the evening of 21 July, en route to Kharkiv to be flown to the
Netherlands for identification. On the same day, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak
announced that the Malaysian government had reached a tentative agreement to
14

retrieve the remains of the Malaysians who died in the crash, following any necessary
forensic work.
It was reported on 21 July that with 282 bodies and 87 body fragments found, there
were still 16 bodies missing. An agreement had been reached that the Netherlands will
co-ordinate the identification effort. All remains were to be moved to the Netherlands
with Dutch air force C-130 and Australian C-17 transport planes. A train carrying the
bodies arrived at the Malyshev Factory, Kharkiv on 22 July, and the first remains were
flown to Eindhoven on 23 July. The investigation is conducted at the Netherlands
Army medical regiment training facility in Hilversum by an international team. The
UK Metropolitan Police is liaising with international partners to send specialist officers to
assist with the recovery, identification and repatriation of those who died.
Dutch authorities stated on 23 July that they found 200 bodies on the train when it
arrived at Kharkhiv, leaving almost 100 unaccounted for. Two Dutch and one Australian
aircraft flew the first bodies out of Kharviv later that day. The aircraft landed
at Eindhoven Airportjust before 16:00 local time. The day after, another 74 bodies
arrived.
On 1 August it was announced that a search and recovery mission, including about 80
forensic police specialists from the Netherlands, Malaysia and Australia, and led by
Colonel Cornelis Kuijs of the Royal Marechaussee, would use drones, sniffer
dogs, divers and satellite mapping to search for missing body parts at the crash
site. Australian officials had believed that as many as 80 bodies were still at the site, but
after some days of searching the international team had "found remains of only a few
victims" and concluded that "the recovery effort undertaken by local authorities
immediately after the crash was more thorough than initially thought."
On 6 August the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced that the recovery
operation would be temporarily halted due to an upsurge in fighting around the crash
site threatening the safety of crash investigators and recovery specialists, and that all
international investigators and humanitarian forces (approximately 500 Australians and
15

80 Dutch/Malaysians) would leave the country leaving behind a small communications

and laison team. Three areas of the crash site remained unsearched.
On 22 August the bodies of 20 Malaysians (of 43 Malaysians who were killed in the
incident) arrived in Malaysia. The government announced a National Mourning Day,
with a ceremony broadcast live on radio and television.
On 9 October a spokesman for the Dutch national prosecutors office stated that one
victim was found with an oxygen mask around his neck and that a forensic investigation
of the mask for fingerprints, saliva and DNA did not produce any results and that it is
therefore not known how or when that mask got around the neck of the victim.
By 31 October, the Dutch-led forensic team had identified the bodies of 289 out of 298
victims of the crash.
Preliminary report
On 9 September 2014, the preliminary accident report was released by the Security
Council of the Netherlands (Dutch Safety Board).
The preliminary report concludes that the aircraft and crew prior to the ending of the
CVR and FDR recording at 13.20:03 hrs were not implicated in any technical or
operational failure, due to the absence of any corresponding evidence. Furthermore, the
report said that "damage observed on the forward fuselage and cockpit section of the
aircraft appears to indicate that there were impacts from a large number of high-energy
objects from outside the aircraft". According to the investigators, this damage likely led
to a loss of structural integrity that caused an in-flight breakup first of the forward parts
of the aircraft and then the remainder with expansive geographic spread of the aircraft's
pieces.
Tjibbe Joustra, Chairman of the Dutch Safety Board, explained on the release date of
the preliminary report that the investigation thus far "point towards an external cause of
the MH17 crash", but determining the exact cause of the crash requires further
16

investigation and investigators will be able to use "additional evidence" to produce the
final report. The Board's press release for the preliminary report also established a time
frame for the final report: "The Board aims to publish the report within one year of the
date of the crash."

Criminal investigation
The criminal investigation into the downing of MH17 is being led by the Public
Prosecution Service of the Dutch Ministry of Justice. The investigation is the largest in
Dutch history, involving dozens of prosecutors and 200 investigators with different
specialties. Detectives are looking at forensic samples from bodies and luggage,
interviews with witnesses, satellite data, intercepted communications, and information
on the Web. Of particular interest to investigators are 25 pieces of iron; investigators are
trying to establish whether or not they came from a surface to air missile. The
investigation continues.

Reactions
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called the crash the result of an act of terrorism,
and also called for an international investigation into the crash.
Malaysian Deputy Foreign Minister Hamzah Zainuddin said that the foreign ministry
would be working with the Russian and Ukrainian governments with regard to the
incident. Prime Minister Najib Razak later said that Malaysia was unable to verify the
cause of the crash and demanded that the perpetrators be punished. The Malaysian
governmentflew the national flag at half-mast from 18 July until 21 July.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and King Willem-Alexander voiced their shock at the
crash, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Frans Timmermans joined the Dutch investigation
team sent to Ukraine. Dutch government buildings flew the flag at half-mast on 18
July. Music was cancelled and festivities were toned down on the last day of
17

the Nijmegen Marches. On 21 July the Netherlands opened a war crimes investigation
on the downing of the aircraft. The country's prosecutor is in Ukraine for that purpose.
Rutte threatened tough action against Russia if it did not help in the investigation.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in an address to parliament that the aircraft
was downed by a missile which seems to have been launched by Russian-backed
rebels. Julie Bishop, the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, said in an interview on
an Australian television programme that it was "extraordinary" that her Russian
counterparts have refused to speak to her over the shootdown after the Russian
ambassador was summoned to meet her. The Russian government was critical of
Abbott's response; Abbott was one of the first world leaders to publicly connect the
shootdown to Russia. Abbott later criticized the recovery efforts as "shambolic", and
"more like a garden clean-up than a forensic investigation"; Bishop publicly warned
separatist forces against treating the victims' bodies as hostages. Abbott also said in an
interview on 13 October 2014, in anticipation of Russia's President Vladimir Putin's
attendance at the 2014 G20 summit, scheduled for mid-November 2014 in Brisbane,
Australia: "Australians were murdered. They were murdered by Russian-backed rebels
using Russian-supplied equipment. We are very unhappy about this."
Russian President Putin said that Ukraine bears responsibility for the incident which
happened in its territory, which he said would not have happened if hostilities had not
resumed in the south-east of Ukraine. He also said that it was important to refrain from
making any hasty conclusions and politicized statements before the end of the
investigation. He said that Russia would help an international inquiry led by the
ICAO. By end of July a Duma deputy Ilya Ponomarev said in an interview for
German Die Weltthat there's no doubts that it was the separatists who shot down the
plane by mistake and "Putin now understood that he has passed the weapon to wrong
people".
United States President Barack Obama said the United States would help determine the
cause. In a press statement, White House spokesman Josh Earnest called for an
immediate ceasefire in Ukraine to allow for a full investigation. Vice-President Joe
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Biden said the plane appeared to have been deliberately shot down, and offered
American assistance for the investigation into the crash. American Ambassador to the
United Nations Samantha Power called on Russia to end the war. The British
government requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security
Council and called an emergency Cobra meeting after the incident. Chairman of the
U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin E. Dempsey has said that instead of backing away from
supporting the rebels in the wake of the airline tragedy, Putin had "actually taken a
decision to escalate."
Commenting on the response by the German government to questions about what
military intelligence the government has on the downing of MH17, Alexander Neu, New
Left Party MP and chairman of the Defence Committee, said, "The federal government
has no knowledge of whether MH17 was shot in the Ukraine, and especially of which
belligerent shot it down." "Thus, there is blame based on wild speculation based on
wishful thinking, and above all on political interests hostile to Russia."
Commander of the Donbass People's Militia Igor Girkin was quoted as stating that "a
significant number of the bodies weren't fresh". He followed up by saying "Ukrainian
authorities are capable of any baseness"; and also said that blood serum and
medications were found in the plane's remnants in large quantities.
The European Union's representatives Jos Manuel Barroso and Herman Van
Rompuy released a joint statement calling for immediate and thorough
investigation. The EU officials also said that Ukraine has first claim on the plane's black
boxes.
The International Civil Aviation Organization declared that it was sending its team of
experts to assist the National Bureau of Air Accidents Investigation of Ukraine (NBAAI),
under Article 26 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation. The United Nations
Security Council adopted Resolution 2166 on 21 July, regarding an official crime
investigation into the incident. On 24 July 2014 the ICAO issued a State Letter

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reminding signatory states of their responsibilities with respect to the safety and security
of civil aircraft operating in airspace affected by conflict.
After the crash, memorial services were held in Australia and in the Netherlands, which
declared 23 July, the day when the first victims arrived in the country, a national day of
mourning, the first since 1962. The opening ceremony of the AIDS 2014 conference, of
which several delegates were on board flight MH17, began with a tribute to the victims
of the crash. In Malaysia, makeshift memorials were created in the capital city of Kuala
Lumpur.
A poem on the subject, "Requiem for MH-17" was written and broadcast by Andrei
Orlov. In the poem he declared himself, along with all other Russian public, responsible
for shooting down the plane.
Russian media coverage
Media coverage of the crash in Russia has differed from coverage in other worldwide
media. On 22 July an unnamed American official said that the Russian government was
manipulating the media towards Russia's version of the story.
The Russian government-funded outlet RT initially said that the plane may have been
shot down by Ukraine in a failed attempt to assassinate Vladimir Putin, in a plot which
was organized by Ukraine's "Western backers". Other theories propagated by Russian
media include: that the Ukrainians shot down the plane in a botched attempt at mass
murder of Russian citizens; that Ukrainian air traffic controllers purposefully redirected
the flight to fly over the war zone; and that the Ukrainian government organized the
attack on the plane to bring infamy upon the pro-Russian rebels.
According to the poll conducted by the Levada Center between 18 and 24 July 80% of
Russians surveyed believed that the crash of MH17 was caused by the Ukrainian
military. Only 3% of respondents to the poll blamed the disaster on pro-Russian
separatists in eastern Ukraine.

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Sara Firth, a correspondent with RT, for which she had worked over the previous five
years, resigned in protest at the channel's coverage which she described as "shockingly
obvious misinformation". RT issued a statement after Firth went public with reasons for
her resignation, saying "we were not surprised by Sara Firth's decision to leave RT after
five years as a Moscow and London correspondent, as she has recently informed us
that she was likely to take an offer from another firm".
On 25 July, the liberal Russian opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta published a bold
headline in Dutch that read "Vergeef ons, Nederland" ("Forgive Us, Netherlands").
On 15 November, Russia's Channel One reported on a supposedly leaked spy satellite
photo which shows the plane being shot from behind by a Ukrainian fighter jet. Many
other Russian media reprinted the photo. The authenticity of the photo was quickly
debunked by online commentators, using supporting evidence. The photo had been
emailed to the Vice President of the Russian Union of Engineers by a self-described
aviation expert who had found it on a Russian online forum. The aviation expert
apologized to those "unintentionally misled or disappointed" for the use of the
information stating that he "had no knowledge or means of proving and researching if
this was an authentic satellite photo or not" and that he was unhappy that the "informal
attempt possibly became a source of yet another battle in a media war" saying the
members of the Russian media organization "are either desperate or totally
unprofessional".

Political Implications
The downing of MH 17 could go down in history as a turning point in the Ukraine
conflict. If it does, it wouldn't be the first time that a civil aviation disaster has had
enormous political consequences.
Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov characterized the downing of the Malaysian
airliner near the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk as being the equivalent of an Eastern
European 9/11. While this may not be the best comparison, the July 17 disaster
certainly does mark an important turning point -- for Russia and President Vladimir
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Putin, and for Ukraine's new president, Petro Poroshenko, inaugurated only two months
ago. It also represents a watershed moment for the West, and the Europeans in
particular, because it could force them to begin taking a more decisive approach in the
Ukraine conflict.
Russia's claims that this is a purely a regional conflict that does not concern the rest of
the world can no longer be allowed to stand unchallenged.
The official investigations will continue for a long time, and it seems unlikely that all
parties will recognize the conclusions reached by the experts. But it is already clear who
the main suspects are in the downing of the airliner: the pro-Russian separatists in
Ukraine who had received substantial weaponry from Russia in recent weeks, and may
have unintentionally struck a commercial airliner with a surface-to-air missile. They
apparently believed it was a Ukrainian military aircraft.

Conspiracy Theories

1. A world power shot the plane down to start World War III.
Theories diverge as to whether said power was Russia, the US, Israel or some other
Western country, but they all agree as to motive: The downed plane is, theorists claim,
the perfect excuse for either NATO to invade Russia, or Russia to invade Ukraine. We
can clearly see an attempted false flag to launch WW3 unfolding, the alternative news
siteBefore Its News said. Enthused Redditors also pointed to a Russian tweet sent on
June 17, which appeared to predict a civilian plane crash and a consequent NATO
invasion.
As far as fringe theories go, this one isnt all that wacky: It at least admits the plane was
shot down. But attacking a civilian plane is a war crime, not to mention a great way to

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alienate the entire international community - which makes it somewhat less than
strategic.
2. A major world power shot the plane down to distract from Gaza/the border crisis/the
World Currency Reset/the next Snowden release/fill-in-the-blank.
The media is in a frenzy today, warned one /r/conspiracy commenter, echoing many
others. We must remember one thing, when they have a lot of things to show you, it
means there is something they dont want you to look at. Popular contenders for things
we, the dreaded MSM, do not want you to see include Israels incursion into Gaza and
the ongoing illegal immigration crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. Oddly, both topics
feature prominently on both front pages andhomepages so if MH17 was a distraction,
it didnt really work.
3. A major world power shot the plane down to cover up the man-made origins of
HIV/AIDS.
The news that a number of prominent HIV/AIDS workers were on the plane
prompted some isolated speculation that the attack involved their research in some way
perhaps as a cover-up for AIDS man-made origins, another popular theory among
the tin-hat set. One Redditor pointed out that, 16 years ago, AIDS-patient advocate and
World Health official Jonathan Mann also died in a plane crash that conspiracists find
suspect. (A four-year, multi-million-dollar investigation into that crash concluded that it
was caused by an electrical fire, and fed by flammable materials in the plane.)
4. Ukraine shot the plane down to kill Vladimir Putin.
This rumour actually originated with Russias state-run Interfax news agency before
seeping into the U.S. Per Interfax, Putins presidential jet flew the same route as MH17
at almost the same time, and his aircraft was the same size and colouring as the
downed plane leading some to speculate that the crash was an assassination
attempt gone very wrong. (This was a deliberate attempt to shoot down the Russian
presidential plane carrying Vladimir Putin one his way from the Latin American visit,
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wrote blogger Lada Rey, in all-caps.) But as Russias RT, another state-run news
outlet, debunked shortly thereafter, Putins plane has not flown over Ukraine since the
start of conflict there, and he certainly wasnt flying that flight path Thursday. At the time,
Putin was returning to Moscow from Brazil.
5. The plane was not shot down at all.
In a variation of the World War III theory, popular YouTube conspiracy vlogger
DAHBOO77 who specializes in speculative bombshells! on everything from Pope
Francis to TB has claimed the plane was intentionally diverted into east Ukraine,
where it was then intentionally crashed or blown up by on-board explosives. According
to this theory, Ukraine (or Russia, or the U.S., or anybody else), could then claim the
aircraft was shot down and use it as an excuse for an invasion.
Dahboos primary evidence for this is a series of dashcam videos that show MH17
exploding on the ground, not in the air. (How many movies, how many cartoons have
you watched and seen a plane go down? he demands, apparently assuming that
cartoon plane-crashes always follow the laws of physics.) Aviation experts actually
say the plane would explode on the ground if the missile hit it at any point besides the
fuselage.
6. In fact, the plane never even took off!
A barely coherent post on the popular awareness blog Nesara News claims MH17 was
cancelled because the radar site FlightRadar24.com lists it that way. (Flight Radar
refers, of course, to the fact that it never landed not that it never left.) Nesara,
unfortunately, is still trying to figure out what airplane the photos actually depict, if not
MH17. But he and several others have one tentative theory
7. MH17 is actually MH 370.
After all, theyre both Boeing 777s and the plane that disappeared in March still
hasnt been found! Yes the plane was boarded in Amsterdam, reads one post on the
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forum Above Top Secret. This does not prove the case that it must be the MH17. It
could be the MH370 rigged with explosives. According to that particular strain of the
MH370 theory, the disappeared plane was planted to start World War III.
But Illuminati Watcher has an ever better idea: Maybe MH370 was swallowed by
aliens/a space vortex and just now spit out over Ukraine. (As the watcher himself points
out, this conveniently mirrors the plot of a short-lived TV show called The Event.) For
the record, every available piece of evidence suggests that MH 370 is in a million pieces
on the bottom of the Indian Ocean.

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