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MH17 report suggests efforts were made to cover up causes of disaster
Source: The Guardian
MH17 report suggests efforts were made to cover up causes of disaster
Dutch experts found captain’s body had ‘undergone an external and internal
examination to remove foreign objects’
Luke Harding at Gilze-Rijen airbase, Shaun Walker in Moscow and Julian Borger in London
Tuesday 13 October 2015 18.48 BST
The long-awaited Dutch report into the shooting down of flight MH17 suggests attempts were made to cover up the causes of the disaster, including a bungled autopsy on the body of the captain in which metal fragments from a Buk missile were deliberately removed.
Dutch investigators said on Tuesday that the three pilots were killed instantly, after a Russian-built Buk missile exploded within a metre of their cockpit. The blast ejected hundreds of pieces of shrapnel into the plane with “tremendous force”, said the Dutch safety board report.
But investigators declined to apportion blame for who had downed the plane, merely saying the rocket was fired from a 320 sq km area of eastern Ukraine. Further “forensic investigation” was needed to determine the precise launch site.
But speaking to Dutch journalists in The Hague, in the corridor of parliament, the chairman of the safety board, Tjibbe Joustra, later admitted that the Buk missile was fired from a rebel-controlled area.
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Dutch experts found captain’s body had ‘undergone an external and internal
examination to remove foreign objects’
Luke Harding at Gilze-Rijen airbase, Shaun Walker in Moscow and Julian Borger in London
Tuesday 13 October 2015 18.48 BST
The long-awaited Dutch report into the shooting down of flight MH17 suggests attempts were made to cover up the causes of the disaster, including a bungled autopsy on the body of the captain in which metal fragments from a Buk missile were deliberately removed.
Dutch investigators said on Tuesday that the three pilots were killed instantly, after a Russian-built Buk missile exploded within a metre of their cockpit. The blast ejected hundreds of pieces of shrapnel into the plane with “tremendous force”, said the Dutch safety board report.
But investigators declined to apportion blame for who had downed the plane, merely saying the rocket was fired from a 320 sq km area of eastern Ukraine. Further “forensic investigation” was needed to determine the precise launch site.
But speaking to Dutch journalists in The Hague, in the corridor of parliament, the chairman of the safety board, Tjibbe Joustra, later admitted that the Buk missile was fired from a rebel-controlled area.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/13/mh17-report-suggests-efforts-were-made-to-cover-up-causes-of-disaster
