MH17 Ukraine disaster: Dutch report blames missile

Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 crashed as a result of a Russian-made Buk missile, the Dutch Safety Board says.

The missile hit the front left of the plane causing other parts break off, it said in a final report into the July 2014 disaster, which killed 298 people.

The West and Ukraine say Russian-backed rebels brought down the Boeing 777. But Russia claims a missile was fired from Ukrainian-controlled territory.

The report does not apportion blame but says airspace should have been closed.

Investigators could not determine at which point the occupants died, the report says, adding that it was not able to rule out possibility of some remaining conscious for some time during the one-and-a-half minutes it took for the plane to crash.

The plane - flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur - crashed in rebel-held eastern Ukraine on 17 July 2014 at the height of the conflict between government troops and the pro-Russian separatists.

Among the victims were 196 Dutch nationals and 10 Britons.

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BBC