The Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014, was hit by a BUK surface-to-air missile over the eastern part of Ukraine, the Dutch Safety Board has concluded in a final report.
"No scenario other than a Buk surface-to-air missile can explain this combination of facts," the report stated.
Thomson Reuters File photo of a pro-Russian separatist standing at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region
It was a BUK missile that hit the left upper part of the cockpit," a visibly shaken relative, Robby Oehlers, told reporters, just after being briefed by Dutch officials in The Hague, the AFP reports.
The warhead, fired from rebel-held eastern Ukraine, detonated to the left side and slightly above the cockpit, as shown in a video from the Dutch Safety Board.
"The forward section of the aircraft was penetrated by hundreds of high-energy objects coming from the warhead. As a result of the impact and the subsequent blast, the three crew members in the cockpit were killed immediately and the aeroplane broke up in the air," the report stated.
"Wreckage from the aeroplane was distributed over various sites within an area of 50 square kilometres. All 298 occupants were killed."
Here's how BUK missiles work:
Reuters
Wikimedia Commons
BUK missile.