Malaysia Airlines Flight 17

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17

9M-MRD, the aircraft involved in the incident, at Rome Fiumicino Airport in October 2011
Incident
Date	17 July 2014 (2014-07-17)
Summary	Suspected of having been shot down by a Buk surface-to-air missile; exact cause is still under investigation
Site	Near Hrabove, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine 48°7′56″N 38°39′19″E
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 777-200ER
Operator	Malaysia Airlines
Registration	9M-MRD
Flight origin	Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
Destination	Kuala Lumpur International Airport
Passengers	283
Crew	15
Fatalities	298 (all)
Survivors	0

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17/MAS17) was a scheduled international passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that crashed on 17 July 2014. It is believed to have been shot down with a Buk surface-to-air missile. The aircraft went down near Hrabove (area under military control of Donbass People's Militia) in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine about 40 km (25 mi) from the Ukraine–Russia border. All 283 passengers and 15 crew on board the Boeing 777-200ER airliner died. The crash occurred in the conflict zone of the ongoing Donbass insurgency, in the area controlled by pro-Russian rebel groups.

A Ukrainian Interior Ministry official, Anton Gerashchenko, said a Buk missile hit the aircraft at an altitude of 10,000 m (33,000 ft). Ukrainian security services said they intercepted two phone conversations in which pro-Russian separatists discuss with Russian intelligence officers having just shot down a civilian plane. On 19 July, Vitaly Nayda, the chief of the Counter Intelligence Department of the SBU, told a news conference: "We have compelling evidence that this terrorist act was committed with the help of the Russian Federation. We know clearly that the crew of this system were Russian citizens."

The separatists denied the recorded talks were related to the crash of MH17. Alleged separatist conversations with Russian intelligence agents were also intercepted, in which rebels reportedly express satisfaction that they are in possession of a Buk missile system. U.S. President Barack Obama, citing U.S. intelligence officials, said the plane was shot down by a missile and that there was "credible evidence" it was fired from a location held by pro-Russian rebels.

The crash was the airline's second major incident of the year. Flight 370 (Boeing 777-200ER 9M-MRO) disappeared on 8 March en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur. With 298 deaths, MH17 is the deadliest aviation incident since the September 11 attacks, the deadliest air accident in Ukraine, the deadliest-ever Boeing 777 hull loss and the deadliest incident in Malaysia Airlines' history.

Aircraft

Flight 17 was operated with a Boeing 777-2H6ER, serial number 28411, registration 9M-MRD. The 84th Boeing 777 produced, it first flew on 17 July 1997, exactly 17 years before the incident, and was delivered new to Malaysia Airlines on 29 July 1997. Powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent 892 engines and configured to carry 282 passengers (35 business and 248 economy), the aircraft had logged more than 43,000 hours of flight time, including 6,950 cycles, before the crash.

The Boeing 777 entered commercial service on 7 June 1995; as of June 2014, there were approximately 1,200 aircraft in service with some 340 unfilled orders. Aviation experts say the model has one of the best safety records in commercial aircraft. Only four other 777s have suffered a hull loss: British Airways Flight 38 in January 2008; a cockpit fire in a parked EgyptAir 777-200 at Cairo International Airport in 2011; and Asiana Airlines Flight 214 in July 2013, in which three people died. Another Malaysia Airlines 777, Flight 370 (registration 9M-MRO), went missing on 8 March 2014 and was still being searched for at the time of Flight 17's crash.

Passengers and crew

People on board by nationality

Nation	Number (boarding passport)	Dual nationality
Australia	27	1
Belgium	4	1
Canada	1	0
Germany	4	0
Hong Kong	0	1
Indonesia	12	0
Ireland	0	1
Israel	0	1
Italy	0	1
Malaysia	43	0
Netherlands	193	0
New Zealand	1	1
Philippines	3	0
Romania	0	1
South Africa	0	1
United Kingdom	10	0
United States	0	1
Vietnam	0	3
Total	298

All 283 passengers and 15 Malaysian crew died. Over two-thirds of the passengers were from the Netherlands. Authorities initially said there were 295 people on board, having not accounted for three infants. By 19 July, the airline had officially determined the nationalities of all 298 passengers and crew. The nationalities are noted in the table to the right. The nationalities released by the airline are noted in the second column, while the third column indicates people that had citizenship in a certain country but were officially assigned another nationality due to dual citizenship.

Among the passengers were delegates en route to the 20th International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, including Joep Lange, a former president of the International AIDS Society, which organizes the conference. Also on board was Dutch senator Willem Witteveen, his wife and daughter; Cor Schilder (Pan), drummer and vocalist of Vast Countenance, and his girlfriend; Australian author Liam Davison, travelling with his wife; and Malaysian actress Shuba Jaya, her husband and baby.

Timeline

Events before the crash

A Ukrainian An-26, similar to one shot down on 14 July 2014

• 3 March 2014: Korean Air and Asiana Airlines "stopped flying over Ukraine airspace ... because of security concerns." Aeroflot, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines and others would continue overflying eastern Ukraine until after MH17 was shot down.
• April 2014: The International Civil Aviation Organization warned governments that there was "the possible existence of serious risks to the safety of international civil flights" over Ukraine. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issued restrictions on flights over Crimea just south of MH17's route, and advised airlines flying over the rest of Ukraine to "exercise extreme caution due to the continuing potential for instability."
• 14 June 2014: A Ukrainian Air Force Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft was shot down on approach to Luhansk International Airport; all 49 people on board died.
• 29 June 2014: NTV reported that separatists had access to a Buk after taking control of a Ukrainian air defence base A-1402 (possibly the former location of the 156th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (156 zrp), Ukrainian Air Force). On the same day, the Donetsk People's Republic claimed possession of such a system in a since-deleted tweet.
• 1 July 2014: Ukrainian officials advised pilots to not fly below 26,000 feet (7,900 m) over eastern Ukraine.
• 13 July 2014: Sergey Kurginyan declared that Buk launchers taken over from Ukrainian army were going to be fixed soon by specialists from Russia.
• 14 July 2014: An unconfirmed phone call took place between Oleh Valeriyovych Bugrov (Army Chief of Staff and Deputy Minister of Defence of self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic) and an officer of Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian Federation where the officer said "Now we have (radar-guided surface-to-air) Buk (missile system), we shall bring them (planes) down."
• 14 July 2014: A Ukrainian military An-26 transport aircraft flying at 21,000 feet (6,400 m) was shot down. (confirmed to be shot using Buk). U.S. officials would later say evidence suggested the aircraft had been fired on from inside Russian territory.
• 14 July 2014: Ukrainian officials advised pilots to not fly below 32,000 feet (9,800 m) over eastern Ukraine.
• 15 July 2014: Following his visit to Kiev, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski warned about the dangers posed by the continued Russian military support for pro-Russian separatists, especially ground-to-air missiles. "These are mobile rockets whose sale is governed by international rules and they are forbidden from being supplied to non-state groups, because that creates the possibility of the proliferation of these kinds of weapons, which creates a danger to civil aviation around the world," he said.
• 16 July 2014: A Ukrainian military Sukhoi Su-25 close air support aircraft was shot down, and Ukrainian government officials accused the Russian military of downing the aircraft with an air-to-air missile fired by a MiG-29 jet in Russia, while a spokesman for Russia's Defence Ministry rejected those accusations as absurd.
• 17 July 2014: Russia closed more than a dozen airways at various altitudes.
• 17 July 2014: An unnamed Associated Press journalist saw a Buk launcher in Snizhne, a town in the Donetsk Oblast, approximately 16 kilometers (10 miles) southeast of the crash site. The reporter also saw seven rebel tanks at a filling station near the town.
• 17 July 2014: An unconfirmed phone call between Sergei Nikolaevich Petrovskiy (officer of Main Intelligence Directorate of Russian Federation, Deputy Chief of Igor Girkin on Intelligence) and a militant took place where they discussed where to unload and place the Buk missile system.

Crash

Route of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol

Crash site

Kuala Lumpur International Airport

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Location of crash site; departure and destination airports

The aircraft departed from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol Gate G03 at 12:14 CEST (10:14 UTC). Flight 17 was due to arrive at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 11 hours and 45 minutes later at 06:00, 18 July MYT (22:00, 17 July UTC).

According to Malaysia Airlines, MH17 filed a flight plan requesting to fly at 35,000 feet throughout Ukrainian airspace, but "upon entering Ukrainian airspace, MH17 was instructed by Ukrainian air traffic control to fly at 33,000 feet".

Malaysia Airlines released a statement saying "it received notification from Ukrainian ATC that it had lost contact with flight MH17 at 1415 (GMT) at 30 km (19 mi) from [the] TAMAK waypoint (47°51′24″N 39°13′6″E), approximately 50 km (31 mi) from the Russia–Ukraine border."

The plane crashed near the village of Hrabove just north of Torez, a city in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast, as it was approaching the Russian border. The moment at which a fireball rose due to the impact was captured on a video clip.

Flightradar24 reported that a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-200ER (Flight SQ351) and an Air India Boeing 787-8 (Flight AI113) were each about 25 km (16 mi) away from the Malaysian airliner when it disappeared.

Photographs from the site of the crash show scattered pieces of broken fuselage and engine parts, as well as bodies and passports. Some of the wreckage fell close to houses in Hrabove. Dozens of bodies fell into crop fields, some into houses.

On the evening of 17 July, the lifenews.ru portal released the following statement "On July 17 near the village of Rassypnoye over the Torez city in Donetsk region an An-26 transport plane of Ukrainian Air Force was taken down, said the militia. According to them, the plane crashed somewhere near the "Progress" mine, away from residential areas. According to one of the militias, at approximately 17:30 local time an An-26 flew over the city. It was hit by a rocket, there was an explosion and the plane went to the ground, leaving a black smoke. Debris fell from the sky". ITAR-TASS and RIA Novosti had also reported that an An-26 had been shot down by the militia near Torez at around 16:00 local time. U.S. analysis of the launch plume and trajectory suggested the missile was fired from an area between Torez and Snizhne.

Aftermath

Off-duty coal miners, along with local police and rescue crews, combed through debris searching for any survivors.

As a result of the incident, Ukraine closed all routes in the Eastern Ukraine airspace, at all altitudes. The airspace above Donetsk Oblast had been previously closed by Ukraine on 1 July 2014 below 26,000 feet (7,900 m), and on 14 July 2014 below 32,000 feet (9,800 m). Eurocontrol issued a statement in which it explained that at the time of the crash the MH17 was at Flight Level 330 (33,000 feet or 10,060 metres), so the aircraft was above restricted airspace. A few airlines, such as Qantas, Korean Air Lines, and British Airways, had already been avoiding the area for a number of months because of security concerns. Airlines including Aeroflot, Transaero, Air France, Turkish Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, and S7 Airlines announced their intention to make flights bypass Ukraine airspace. The routes in Russian air space, where MH17 would continue had it not crashed, were closed by Russian air control up to 32,000 feet (9,800 m) just a few hours before the crash (but remained open in higher altitudes).

On 18 July a Russian Defence Ministry spokesman reported to journalists that "Russian radar facilities during 17 July detected work of 9S18 "Kupol" (radar station of detection and targeting for 9K37-1 SAM "Buk-M1" squadron), stationed near Ukrainian-controlled village Styla (30 kilometres (19 mi) south of Donetsk)" Ukraine's foreign minister, Pavlo Klimkin stated that Ukraine did not have sophisticated surface-to-air missile systems in the area, and that none had been seized by separatist groups in recent weeks.

Shortly after the crash, it was announced that Malaysia Airlines would change the Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur route flight number to 19. By 18 July 2014, shares in Malaysia Airlines had dropped by nearly 16%

International media has reported that credit and debit cards may have been looted from the bodies of the victims, and the Dutch Banking Association reported to have taken necessary actions to prevent abuse.

Investigation

External audio
Pro-Russian rebels discuss the shooting down of an aircraft Intercepted phone calls, not independently verified, between rebels discussing which rebel group shot down the aircraft and initial reports it was a civilian aircraft. Audio (in Russian) released by Security Service of Ukraine with English subtitles.

Map of the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17

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   (line) - the route of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17

  Approximate area of missile launch

  Extent of territory held by pro-Russian insurgents

On the day of the crash, a meeting was convened in the Trilateral Contact Group (consisting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Ukrainian national government, and Russia). After they had held a video conference with representatives of the Novorossiya rebels (who control the area where the plane crashed), the rebels promised to "provide safe access and security guarantees" to "the national investigation commission" by cooperating with Ukrainian authorities and OSCE monitors. However, on 18 July the militants denied the OSCE team free access to the crash site. After spending only 75 minutes at the site, the team returned to Donetsk.

During first two days of investigation, on 18 and 19 July, the militants prevented OSCE and other international observers from freely working at the crash site. According to Ukrainian government, the separatists are destroying all evidence of the crime "with the help of Russia", including moving 38 bodies to Donetsk. .

A Ukrainian-led international investigation will examine how the plane came to crash. The United Kingdom is sending six investigators from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch to assist. The UK Foreign Office has sent extra consular staff to Ukraine and the Metropolitan Police is liaising with international partners to send specialist officers to the country to assist with the recovery, identification and repatriation of those who died.

A senior U.S. administration official said to ABC News that FBI and NTSB officials are poised to head to Ukraine in an "advisory role" in the investigation.

On 18 July it was reported that the Flight Data Recorder was in the hands of the separatists. But this claim was denied by separatist leader Alexsander Borodai.

On 18 July, the head of Donetsk Regional State Administration, Kostiantyn Batozky, stated, "Two black boxes have been founded [sic] by our emergency teams. I don't have any information as to where these boxes are at the moment".

Cause

Although no final conclusion has been reached pending the investigation, both US and Ukrainian officials list a surface-to-air missile as the most likely cause of the crash. If the missile caused the crash, this is most likely a BUK system missile, as BUK is the only surface-to-air missile installation in the area capable of reaching the altitude of commercial air traffic.

Recovery of casualties

On 19 July 2014 Andriy Lysenko, the spokesman of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine announced to the press that the terrorists removed 38 bodies from the crash site in order to extract from the bodies exploded parts of the rocket used to shoot the plane and destroy the evidence.

A Ukraine Foreign Ministry representative said that the bodies found at the crash site will be taken to Kharkiv for identification, a city 270 kilometres to the north. 181 bodies had been found as of 18 July.

Al Jazeera reported that the separatist Minister of Health had initially confirmed 38 bodies had been moved to the Donetsk morgue, which the minister subsequently recanted. Bodies were observed being moved, placed in bodybags, and loaded on to trucks.

On 19 July, Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte commented that he was disgusted by the lack of respect shown to the personal belongings and shocked about the lack of respect for the bodies of the casualties; it had been reported that bodies were being "dragged around" and "thrown" while the victims' possessions were looted.

Reactions

By country

Russian President Vladimir Putin and government officials observing a moment of silence in memory of the victims.

File:2014 Tour de France - start of stage 13, memorial Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.jpg

A minute of silence before stage 13 of the 2014 Tour de France.

• Malaysia – Malaysian Deputy Foreign Minister Hamzah Zainuddin said that the foreign ministry would be working closely with the Russian and Ukrainian governments with regard to the incident. Prime Minister Najib Razak later said on his statement that "At this stage, however, Malaysia is unable to verify the cause of this tragedy. But we must, and we will, find out precisely what happened to this flight. No stone will be left unturned." He also added "If it transpires that the plane was indeed shot down, we insist that the perpetrators must swiftly be brought to justice". The Malaysian government has declared to fly the country national flag at half-mast from 18 July until 21 July.
• Netherlands – Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and King Willem-Alexander voiced their shock at the crash. Minister of Foreign Affairs Frans Timmermans will join the Dutch investigation team sent to Ukraine. Dutch government buildings flew the flag at half-mast on 18 July. Music was cancelled and festivities were toned down during the last, usually festive, day of the Nijmegen Marches.
• Russia – Russian President Vladimir Putin said responsibility for the crash rests with "the country in whose airspace the plane was in when it crashed", and that "the disaster wouldn't happen if the military action in south-east of Ukraine was not reenabled". On 19 July Russian Ministry of Defence announced "10 questions to the Ukrainian government", repeating accusations earlier published in Russian media. Russian citizens brought flowers to the Dutch embassy in Moscow. Some left notes in English: "We are very sorry! What a terrible shame!"
• Novorossiya – Pro-Russian rebel commander Igor Girkin was quoted as stating that "a significant number of the bodies weren't fresh", although he stated that he could not confirm the information. He followed up by saying "Ukrainian authorities are capable of any baseness"; Girkin also said that blood serum and medications were found in the plane's remnants in large quantities.
• Ukraine – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko vowed support for a Dutch probe into the crash, which he called an act of terrorism. He offered condolences for the air disaster in a telephone conversation with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Ukrainian citizens brought flowers to the Dutch and Malaysian embassies in Kiev in support.
• European Union – The European Union representatives José Manuel Barroso and Herman Van Rompuy released a joint statement calling for immediate and thorough investigation. The EU officials also said that Ukraine has first claim on the plane's black boxes.
• Australia – Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said that the aircraft was downed by a missile which seems to have been launched by Russian-backed rebels. Moreover, the Australian foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop said in an interview on an Australian TV program that it was "extraordinary" that her Russian counterparts have refused to speak to her over the fatal downing of a Malaysia Airlines plane. The Russian government was critical of the Australian response, branding the Prime Minister's comments as "inappropriate" and an "accusation of guilt based on speculation".
• Germany – German Chancellor Angela Merkel demanded a swift, independent inquiry.
• Indonesia – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono asked that whoever shot down the aircraft be punished unequivocally, and offered to help with the investigation.
• Ireland – The Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement, "Ireland fully supports calls for a full, independent international investigation to establish the cause of this grave tragedy and to ensure that those responsible are swiftly brought to justice."
• Romania – Romanian President Traian Băsescu declared himself "appalled" by the tragic event that occurred in Ukraine's airspace and asked for immediate clarification of the circumstances in which the plane crash occurred. He said EU experts should participate in the investigation along with Ukrainian authorities.
• South Africa – South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane urged world leaders not to jump to conclusions on the incident. President Jacob Zuma called for independent investigation.
• United Kingdom – The United Kingdom requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council.
• United States –

  

  U.S. President Barack Obama discusses the crash with President Petro Poroshenko on the phone while on Air Force One.

  U.S. President Barack Obama said, the U.S. would help determine the cause. In a press statement, White House spokesman Josh Earnest called for an immediate ceasefire. Vice President Joe Biden said the plane appeared to have been deliberately shot down, and vowed U.S. assistance for the investigation into the crash. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power stated that the flight "was likely downed by a surface-to-air missile, an SA-11, operated from a separatist-held location in eastern Ukraine," that the U.S. could not "rule out technical assistance by Russian personnel" in operating the system, and that "Russia must end this war."
• United Nations – The U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting on Ukraine crisis. A British-drafted statement calling for "a full, thorough and independent international investigation" into what caused the crash and stressing the need for "all parties to grant immediate access by investigators to the crash site to determine the cause of the incident" was discussed.
  • United Nations – UNAIDS stated inter alia "It seems that some of the finest academics, health-care workers and activists in the AIDS response may have perished while travelling to take part in the international gathering of experts and advocates...The UNAIDS family is in deep shock. Our hearts go out to the families of all the victims of this tragic crash. The deaths of so many committed people working against HIV will be a great loss for the AIDS response.”
• NATO – NATO said this incident highlighted the fact that the conflict in that area was becoming more dangerous. NATO Secretary General Anders Rasmussen stated, "I am profoundly shocked and saddened by the crash of a Malaysia Airlines passenger aircraft in Ukraine today, with the loss of many lives." After offering his condolences to those affected, he added, "It is important that a full international investigation should be launched immediately, without any hindrance, to establish the facts and that those who may be responsible are swiftly brought to justice."
• ICAO declared that it's sending its team of experts to assist Ukrainian National Bureau of Incidents and Accidents Investigation of Civil Aircraft (NBAAII), which according to ICAO is the country in charge of the investigation under Article 26 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation.

Media coverage

Russian media took President Vladimir Putin's line that Ukraine was responsible because of its military actions. Initially, the Kremlin-backed outlet RT (Russia Today) claimed that the plane was shot down by Ukrainians in a failed assassination attempt on Putin, in a plot which was organized by Ukraine's "Western backers". Sara Firth, a correspondent with RT, for which she had worked for over the previous five years, quit in protest at the channel's coverage which she described as "shockingly obvious misinformation." RT issued a statement after Firth went public with reasons for her resignation saying, "In our coverage, RT, unlike the rest of the media, did not draw conclusions before the official investigation has even begun. We show all sides of the story, even if everyone else has already decided which side is to blame."

On 18 July The Daily Telegraph reported that the Russian government had allegedly modified or deleted information on Wikipedia pages relating to the MH17 incident, to remove claims that it helped provide the missile system used to shoot down the aircraft. Among the pages edited was the Russian version of an article listing civil aviation incidents, to claim that "the plane [flight MH17] was shot down by Ukrainian soldiers".

See also

• List of airliner shootdown incidents
• List of aircraft accidents and incidents resulting in at least 50 fatalities

External links

• Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, official updates regarding Flight 17
• MH17 Passenger Manifest at Malaysia Airlines (official passenger list)
• Malaysia Airlines plane MH17 'shot down' in Ukraine – as it happened, The Guardian
• MH17 17 July 2014 on FlightAware
• Images and videos from Daily News
• Images from RT