{"id":25472,"date":"2014-09-12T00:43:24","date_gmt":"2014-09-11T16:43:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=25472"},"modified":"2025-01-08T09:50:31","modified_gmt":"2025-01-08T14:50:31","slug":"flight-17-wreckage-still-lies-in-ukraine-fields-as-dutch-report-says-it-was-hit-in-midair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/09\/12\/flight-17-wreckage-still-lies-in-ukraine-fields-as-dutch-report-says-it-was-hit-in-midair\/","title":{"rendered":"Flight 17 wreckage still lies in Ukraine fields as Dutch report says it was hit in midair"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_19434\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19434\" style=\"width: 701px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/2014-07-18-01_09_53-BREAKING-Malaysian-Airlines-Boing777-Shot-Down-Near-Shakhtersk-Donetsk-oblast-Uk.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19434\" src=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/2014-07-18-01_09_53-BREAKING-Malaysian-Airlines-Boing777-Shot-Down-Near-Shakhtersk-Donetsk-oblast-Uk.jpg\" alt=\"Screenshot from Euromaidan PR \/ Youtube.\" width=\"701\" height=\"363\" srcset=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/2014-07-18-01_09_53-BREAKING-Malaysian-Airlines-Boing777-Shot-Down-Near-Shakhtersk-Donetsk-oblast-Uk.jpg 701w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/2014-07-18-01_09_53-BREAKING-Malaysian-Airlines-Boing777-Shot-Down-Near-Shakhtersk-Donetsk-oblast-Uk-300x155.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 701px) 100vw, 701px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-19434\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Screenshot from Euromaidan PR \/ Youtube.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>HRABOVE, Ukraine\u2014A child\u2019s jump rope, its yellow handles blistered and charred. A burned book in Tagalog. Chunks of twisted fuselage. More than seven weeks after being shot from the sky, the wreckage from Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 still lay strewn Tuesday across the fields of eastern Ukraine.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position:absolute;left:-99195px;\"> buy ozempic online <a href=\"https:\/\/achievephysiorehab.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/jpg\/ozempic.html\">https:\/\/achievephysiorehab.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/jpg\/ozempic.html<\/a> no prescription pharmacy <\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>As evidence of the July 17 aviation disaster that killed all 298 people on board remained exposed to the elements, investigators hundreds of miles away in the Netherlands\u2014who have not yet visited the crash site because it is deemed too dangerous\u2014released a preliminary report that left key questions unanswered.<\/p>\n<p>The plane had no mechanical or other technical problem in the seconds before it broke up in the sky after being struck by multiple \u201chigh-energy objects from outside the aircraft,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position:absolute;left:-99195px;\"> buy topamax online <a href=\"https:\/\/achievephysiorehab.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/jpg\/topamax.html\">https:\/\/achievephysiorehab.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/jpg\/topamax.html<\/a> no prescription pharmacy <\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>There were multiple punctures in the cockpit and front section of the fuselage, it said\u2014damage that could be caused by a missile that detonates in front of its target and peppers it with small chunks of metal. However, investigators did not identify the source of the fragments or say who fired them.<\/p>\n<p>Although the report drew no conclusions about responsibility, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the findings were consistent with \u201cour original assessment, that it was likely shot down by one of these surface-to-air missiles fired from separatist-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m unaware of other objects or ways that it could be brought down that are consistent with that finding,\u201d Harf said of the report. \u201cIt highlights questions for which Russia must still answer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The slow pace of the inquiry, its cautious preliminary conclusion and the fact that wreckage and human remains are still lying in Ukraine frustrated and angered victims\u2019 families.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, I don\u2019t know what to say about this,\u201d said Samira Calehr, a Dutch mother who lost two sons, 11-year-old Miguel and 19-year-old Shaka, in the crash.<\/p>\n<p>She said that she wants the people responsible for downing the plane brought to justice \u201cas soon as possible,\u201d pausing for emphasis on every word.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position:absolute;left:-99195px;\"> buy elavil online <a href=\"https:\/\/achievephysiorehab.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/jpg\/elavil.html\">https:\/\/achievephysiorehab.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/jpg\/elavil.html<\/a> no prescription pharmacy <\/div>\n<p> \u201cI want to know who killed my children.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Zenaida Ecal, a 53-year-old resident of Pagbilao in the northeastern\u00a0Philippines\u00a0who lost her best friend, Irene Gunawan, expressed frustration that the report discloses only what many already knew\u2014that the Malaysian plane came under fire\u2014but fails to identify the perpetrators.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe just want all of the victims to be found, identified and given a proper burial. We want the perpetrators to be identified and punished. As long as these don\u2019t happen, all the families and friends of the victims will continue to suffer,\u201d Ecal said. \u201cIt\u2019s taking so long.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A separate Dutch-led criminal investigation is underway aimed at bringing the perpetrators to justice.<\/p>\n<p>Tjibbe Joustra, chairman of the Dutch Safety Board that is leading the international investigation, acknowledged the preliminary report\u2014mandated by international aviation guidelines\u2014did not shed much new light on the downing of the Boeing 777.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPerhaps you could say we are a little bit behind, but we are not behind with the truth. We try to make a report that\u2019s for the next of kin\u2014very important\u2014but also for history,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI understand a lot of people say, \u2018Why don\u2019t they work a little quicker?\u2019 But this will take its time,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Governments whose citizens died on Flight 17 were left in little doubt about what happened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe findings are consistent with the government\u2019s statement that MH17 was shot down by a large surface-to-air missile,\u201d Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Christopher Yates, an aviation safety specialist at Yates Consulting, told The Associated Press the report \u201cis extremely consistent with damage from a missile for the simple reason there are penetration marks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt must have been moving at very high velocity to create the damage,\u201d he said. \u201cIt could only be a missile of the type that would reach the altitude that would have struck the aircraft\u2014potentially a BUK missile.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Dutch report came a day after the BBC\u2019s \u201cPanorama\u201d show cited residents who said they saw a BUK M-1 missile being offloaded in a town in eastern Ukraine, near the place seen in photos released by the Ukrainian army that showed a BUK launcher heading east. They said that the crew handling it had Russian accents.<\/p>\n<p>The report added to a growing body of evidence that pro-Russian rebels were involved.<\/p>\n<p>Just three hours before the plane was shot down above rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine, the AP reported on the passage of a BUK M-1 missile system\u2014a machine the size of a tank bearing four ground-to-air missiles\u2014through the rebel-held town of Snizhne near the crash site.<\/p>\n<p>A highly placed rebel officer told the AP in an interview after the disaster that the plane was shot down by a mixed team of rebels and Russian military personnel who believed they were targeting a Ukrainian military plane. Intercepted phone conversations between the rebels released by the Ukrainian government support that version of events.<\/p>\n<p>In those tapes, the first rebels to reach the scene can be heard swearing when they see the number of bodies and the insignia of Malaysia Airlines.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly two months later, those insignia and other poignant reminders of the 298 lost lives are still scattered around the crash site.<\/p>\n<p>Samira Calehr said she was disappointed with the pace of progress.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that if this had happened to citizens of the United States, they would make a faster move than here,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause I think\u2014I\u2019m so sorry for saying it like this\u2014I think the Dutch government, they are safe players. They don\u2019t want to have an issue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the head of a mission to bring back human remains and belongings would travel to Ukraine on Wednesday. But the region is still deemed to unsafe for the Dutch Safety Board staff.<\/p>\n<p>Shelling continued overnight in eastern Ukraine despite a cease-fire, injuring one woman, the city council of Donetsk said.<\/p>\n<p>The council for the rebel-held stronghold said a school and several residential buildings were hit by shelling, imperiling the already shaky cease-fire between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian forces.<\/p>\n<p>Col. Andriy Lysenko, spokesman for the Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council, told journalists Tuesday that five servicemen had been killed and 33 wounded since the cease-fire was declared on Friday.<\/p>\n<p><em>Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington, Toby Sterling in Almere, Netherlands, and Jim Gomez in Manila contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>HRABOVE, Ukraine\u2014A child\u2019s jump rope, its yellow handles blistered and charred. A burned book in Tagalog. Chunks of twisted fuselage. &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":19434,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news-w","mauthors-peter-leonard","mauthors-mike-corder","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25472"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":280797,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25472\/revisions\/280797"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}