MH17 hit by 'numerous objects'

9 September 2014 Last updated at 10:15

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The BBC's Anna Holligan reports from the Hague, where the first copies of the report were handed out

Dutch experts say Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 broke up in mid-air after being hit by "numerous objects" that "pierced the plane at high velocity".

A report released by the Dutch Safety Board said there was "no evidence of technical or human error".

A BBC correspondent says this evidence is consistent with the plane being struck by shrapnel from a missile.

The plane was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it crashed in rebel-held territory eastern Ukraine in July.

All 298 people on board, most of them from the Netherlands, died when the plane came down, amid reports it was shot down by pro-Russian rebels.

Dutch aviation investigators relied on information from the black box flight data recorders, air traffic control, satellite images and photos from the scene to compile the preliminary report.

Analysis: Richard Westcott, Transport correspondent

This report doesn't say flight MH17 was knocked from the sky by a missile. But it pretty much rules out anything else.

There were no emergencies on board, no mechanical problems, the pilots didn't make any mistakes.

Instead, it talks about the plane being punctured by "high-velocity objects", which is consistent with how the BUK missile system works (that's the system many suspect was responsible). They don't actually hit the target, they explode nearby and pepper it with shrapnel for maximum damage.

But all of this doesn't answer the critical question. Who fired the missile?

Both sides in this conflict use the same weapon. To find out who made this terrible mistake, they need to determine where on the ground the missile was actually launched from. And one expert told me that they should eventually be able to work that out with a combination of radar data and evidence from the scene.

There is one very sobering fact also highlighted in this report. Three other, very large commercial airliners flew over the same area at around the same time.

Malaysia plane crash: What we know

Russians 'operated BUK' in MH17 area

Criminal investigation

They said the plane "broke up in the air probably as the result of structural damage caused by a large number of high-velocity objects that penetrated the aircraft from outside."

The cockpit voice recorder revealed no signs of any technical faults or an emergency situation, the experts said.

The investigators have not visited the crash site because of fighting in the area but they said photographic evidence of the wreckage suggests the plane split into pieces during "an in-flight break up".

Maintenance history showed the aircraft was airworthy and had no known technical problems when it took off from Amsterdam, the report added.

Experts said it was manned by "a qualified and experienced crew".

Radio communications between the pilot and Ukrainian air traffic control confirm that no emergency call was made.

While it is not the final report into the crash, the findings are significant because they are the first official account of what happened, says the BBC's Anna Holligan in the Netherlands.

The report does not attribute blame or liability for the crash but a separate criminal investigation is being conducted by prosecutors in The Hague, she adds.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 crashed between Krasni Luch in Luhansk region and Shakhtarsk in the region of Donetsk on 17 July.

The Dutch Safety Board is leading an international probe to try to piece together evidence on what happened.

Ukraine's government and several Western leaders say there is strong evidence that pro-Russian separatists shot down the plane with an anti-aircraft system known as Buk.

Russia has consistently denied allegations that it had supplied any missiles or weapons to the rebels.

Experts from the UK, Germany, Australia, Malaysia, the US, Ukraine and Russia are collaborating on the case.

The board says it expects the final report to be published within a year.

Were you or was someone you know affected by the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17? What is your reaction to the interim report into the causes? You can email your thoughts to Haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk

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