MH17 CRASH Dutch experts say NUMEROUS OBJECTS hit plane BREAKING NEWS 2014
Published on Sep 9, 2014MH17 CRASH Dutch experts say NUMEROUS OBJECTS hit plane BREAKING NEWS 2014
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MH17 crash: Dutch experts say numerous objects hit plane
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.
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.
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.
MH17 crash: Dutch experts say numerous objects hit plane
Investigators say the cockpit voice recorder "gave no indication that there was anything abnormal" on board
