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	Shot down, most likely by a Buk surface-to-air missile (Under investigation)
Site	Near Hrabove, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine 48°8′17″N 38°38′20″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
Survivors	0

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17/MAS17) was a scheduled international passenger flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that was shot down on 17 July 2014, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board. The US government assesses that the aircraft was likely downed by a Buk surface-to-air missile from territory controlled by pro-Russia separatists. The Boeing 777-200ER airliner lost contact near Hrabove in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, about 50 km (31 mi) from the Ukraine–Russia border and crashed near Torez, 40 km (25 mi) from the border. The crash occurred in the conflict zone of the ongoing Donbass insurgency, in an area controlled by the Donbass People's Militia.

The two sides in Ukraine's ongoing conflict (the Ukrainian government and the pro-Russian separatists) accused each other of shooting down the plane while denying their own responsibility. A Ukrainian Interior Ministry official, Anton Gerashchenko, said a Buk surface-to-air missile hit the aircraft at an altitude of 33,000 ft (10,000 m). Several witnesses in Torez reported sightings of what appeared to be a Buk missile launcher on the day of the incident. Unnamed US intelligence officials stated that sensors that traced the path of the missile, shrapnel patterns in the wreckage, voice print analysis of separatists' conversations in which they claimed credit for the strike, and photos and other data from social media sites all indicated that Russian-backed separatists had fired the missile.

The crash of MH17 marks the fifth Boeing 777 hull loss, the third in just over a year. With 298 deaths, MH17 is the deadliest air incident in Ukraine, and the deadliest airliner shootdown in history. The crash was Malaysia Airlines' worst incident and its second of the year, after the disappearance of Flight 370 (9M-MRO) on 8 March, en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.

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 carrying up to 282 passengers (35 business and 247 economy), The aircraft had recorded 75,322 hours in 11,434 cycles before the crash.

The Boeing 777, which entered commercial service on 7 June 1995, has one of the best safety records in commercial aircraft. As of June 2014, there were about 1,200 aircraft in service, with 340 more on order.

Passengers and crew

People on board by nationality

Nation	Number
Australia	27
Belgium	4
Canada	1
Germany	4
Indonesia	12
Malaysia	43
Netherlands	193
New Zealand	1
Philippines	3
United Kingdom	10
Total	298

All 283 passengers and 15 crew died. The crew were Malaysian and about two-thirds of the passengers were Dutch. By 19 July, the airline had determined the nationalities of all 298 passengers and crew. The nationalities are noted in the table.

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 organized the conference. Many initial reports erroneously indicated 100 delegates to the conference were aboard, but this was later revised to six. Also on board were Dutch senator Willem Witteveen, Australian author Liam Davison, and Malaysian actress Shuba Jay.

At least twenty family groups were on board the aircraft, and eighty of the passengers were children.

Background

The first airlines to avoid Ukrainian airspace were Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, which started to do so on 3 March 2014, in the wake of the 2014 Crimean crisis. In April, the International Civil Aviation Organization warned governments that there was a risk to commercial passenger flights over Ukraine. The US Federal Aviation Administration issued restrictions on flights over Crimea, to the south of MH17's route, and advised airlines flying over the remainder of Ukraine to "exercise extreme caution". Aeroflot, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, and others continued overflying eastern Ukraine until after MH17 was shot down. As with other countries, Ukraine receives overflight fees for every commercial aircraft that flies through its airspace, which may have contributed to the continued availability of civilian flight paths through the conflict zone.

Since the start of the conflict, several Ukrainian Air Force aeroplanes have been downed. On 14 June, an Air Force Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft was shot down on approach to Luhansk International Airport; all 49 people on board died. After that incident, on 29 June, Russian news agencies reported that insurgents had gained access to a Buk missile system after having taken control of a Ukrainian air defence base (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. On 14 July, a Ukrainian Air Force An-26 transport plane flying at 21,000 ft (6,400 m) was shot down. Militia reportedly claimed via social media that a Buk missile launcher had been used to bring down the aircraft. American officials later said evidence suggested the aeroplane had been shot down from Russian territory. On 16 July, a Sukhoi Su-25 close air support aircraft was shot down. The Ukrainian government said the Russian military had shot down the aircraft with an air-to-air missile fired by a MiG-29 jet in Russia; a spokesman for the Russian defence ministry rejected that report as "absurd". Ukrainian officials advised pilots on 1 July not to fly below 26,000 ft (7,900 m) over eastern Ukraine. This was increased to 32,000 ft (9,800 m) on 14 July.

On 15 July, 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. By 17 July, Russia had closed more than a dozen airways at various altitudes near the conflict zone. On the same day, an unnamed Associated Press journalist saw a Buk launcher in Snizhne, a town in Donetsk Oblast that is approximately 16 kilometres (10 mi) southeast of the crash site. The reporter also saw seven separatist tanks at a petrol station near the town.

The airspace above Donetsk Oblast had been 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). The route in Russian airspace that MH17 would have taken was closed below 32,000 feet (9,800 m) by Russian air control a few hours earlier, before MH17 took off. According to Malaysia Airlines, MH17 filed an IFR flight plan requesting to fly at a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet (11,000 m), but was directed to 33,000 feet (10,000 m). The aircraft entered Ukrainian airspace climbing through 32,000 feet (9,800 m), and climbed to 33,000 feet (10,000 m) during its transition across the Kiev flight information region.

Crash

Route of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol

Crash site

Kuala Lumpur International Airport

class=notpageimage|

Location of crash site; departure and destination airports

A mobile Buk surface-to-air missile launcher, similar to that believed to have been used in the incident

Map of the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. The dots represent population centres, with larger dots having greater population.

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   (line) – The route of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17

  Approximate area of missile launch according to U.S.

  Extent of territory held by pro-Russian insurgents according to Ukraine

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

Eurocontrol, which is responsible for the routing of all flights in this region, stated that at the time of the incident the aircraft was in unrestricted airspace at flight level 330 (33,000 feet or approximately 10,060 metres).

Malaysia Airlines stated that Ukrainian ATC had lost contact with the airliner at 14:15 UTC, 30 km (19 mi) from the TAMAK waypoint at 47°51′24″N 39°13′6″E, which is on the Russian border and that the aircraft's emergency locator beacon was at 48°07′23″N 38°31′33″E. The last transponder transmission recorded by Flightradar24 was at 13:21 and placed it at 48.0403°N 38.7728°E / 48.0403; 38.7728 and 33,000 feet (10,000 m), heading 118° at 490 knots.

The aircraft crashed outside Hrabove, near Torez in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast. The fireball on impact was believed to be captured on video.

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, bodies, and passports. Some of the wreckage fell close to houses in Hrabove. Dozens of bodies fell into crop fields, and some fell into houses.

On the evening of 17 July, the lifenews.ru portal released a statement saying that a "Ukrainian Air Force An-26 transport plane" had been shot down by a missile and crashed. ITAR-TASS and RIA Novosti had also reported that an An-26 had been shot down by the militia (separatists) near Torez at around 16:00 local time. Only the Malaysian Airlines aircraft, however, had been shot down during this time.

Aftermath

Immediately following the incident, Ukraine closed all routes in the Eastern Ukraine airspace, at all altitudes. Airlines including Aeroflot, Transaero, Air France, Turkish Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, and S7 Airlines announced their intention to instruct pilots to bypass Ukrainian airspace.

Shortly after the crash, it was announced that Malaysia Airlines would retire flight number MH17 and change the Amsterdam–Kuala Lumpur route to flight number MH19 beginning on 25 July. On 18 July 2014, shares in Malaysia Airlines dropped by nearly 16%.

There have been reports that credit and debit cards may have been looted from the bodies of the victims, and the Dutch Banking Association reported that it would take "preventative measures" against possible fraud. There are also accounts of corpses and their possessions being removed and evidence at the crash site being destroyed.

On 23 July, two Ukrainian military jets were hit by missiles at the altitude of 5,200 metres (17,100 ft) close to the area of the MH17 crash. According to the Ukraine Security Council, the missiles came from Russia.

Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin E. Dempsey said that instead of backing away from supporting the rebels in the wake of the airline tragedy, Putin had "actually taken a decision to escalate."

Investigation

On the day of the crash, a meeting was convened of 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 insurgents affiliated with the Donetsk People's Republic (who control the area where the plane crashed), the rebels promised to "provide safe access and security guarantees" to "the national investigation commission" by co-operating with Ukrainian authorities and OSCE monitors. During the first two days of investigation, the militants prevented the OSCE and other international observers from freely working at the crash site. According to the Ukrainian government, the separatists were destroying all evidence of the crime "with the help of Russia", including moving 38 bodies to Donetsk. Andre Purgin, a leader of the Donetsk People's Republic, declared later that "we will guarantee the safety of international experts on the scene as soon as Kiev concludes a ceasefire agreement".

An international investigation team is examining why the plane crashed. In agreement with the Ukrainian government, the Netherlands will lead the investigation. The investigation team consists of 24 investigators with members from the countries involved (Ukraine, Malaysia, Australia, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom and Russia). The black boxes will be examined by an international team at a facility in the United Kingdom. In addition to the international accident investigation, the selection of the flight route will also be independently investigated by the Dutch Safety Board.

A Malaysian team of 133 officials and experts, comprising search and recovery personnel, forensics experts, technical and medical experts is in Ukraine. Australia sent a 45-member panel headed by former Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, who had earlier supervised the MH 370 probe. The United Kingdom sent six investigators from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) and the UK Foreign Office has sent extra consular staff to Ukraine. A senior US administration official reported to ABC News that FBI and NTSB officials were poised to head to Ukraine to advise the investigation.

Shortly after the crash, Igor Girkin, leader of the Donbass separatists, was reported to have posted on social media network VKontakte, taking credit for downing a Ukrainian military aircraft. The separatists later denied involvement after learning that a civilian airliner had been destroyed, saying they did not have the equipment or training to hit a target at that altitude. On 22 July an Italian reporter cited a soldier from "Oplot" separatist squadron who confirmed the plane was shot down by his unit after it was mistakenly identified as a Ukrainian airborne transporter.

On 18 July, it was reported that the black boxes had been recovered by separatists. On the same day, the head of Donetsk Regional State Administration, Kostiantyn Batozky, stated that both black boxes had been found. Rebels said later that two boxes were moved to Donetsk. According to a phone conversation intercepted by Ukrainian intelligence, the militants were given the task of keeping all evidence, including black boxes, away from anyone else.

On 21 July, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said that he had been told by Alexander Borodai, leader of the Donetsk People's Republic, that the black boxes would be handed over to Malaysian authorities. Later that day, the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder were handed over to Malaysian officials in Donetsk by rebels. The Malaysians reported that both recorders were "in good condition". The black boxes are currently being examined at a facility operated by the UK AAIB. On 23 July it was reported that the CVR was damaged but there was no evidence that it had been tampered with, and that valid data had been downloaded.

On 24 July, the Dutch Safety Board announced that they had successfully downloaded data from the FDR and were proceeding to analyse the data. No evidence of manipulation or tampering of the data was found.

Cause

Both US and Ukrainian officials declared that a surface-to-air missile strike is the most likely cause of the crash, and if so, then the missile was fired from a mobile Soviet-designed Buk missile system (known as SA-11 "Gadfly" to NATO), as this is the only surface-to-air missile system in the area capable of reaching the altitude of commercial air traffic. According to defence analyst Reed Foster (from Jane's Information Group), the contour of the aluminium and the blistering of the paint around many of the holes on the aircraft fragments indicate that small pieces of high-velocity shrapnel entered the aircraft externally, a damage pattern indicative of an SA-11. Concurring with that, ballistics specialist Stephan Fruhling (of the Australian National University's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre) added that a large hole in one of the aircraft fragments was caused by a violent blast of decompression from holes inflicted by hot shrapnel from an SA-11 proximity fuzed warhead.

Journalists from the Associated Press in Snizhne, Ukraine reported seeing a Buk M-1 enter the town operated by a man "with unfamiliar fatigues and a distinctive Russian accent" escorted by two civilian vehicles.

External audio
Pro-Russian rebels allegedly discuss the shooting down of an aircraft

On 19 July, Vitaly Nayda, the chief of the Counter Intelligence Department of the Security Service of Ukraine (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." He cited what he said were recorded conversations in which separatists expressed satisfaction to Russian intelligence agents that they brought down an aeroplane. The separatists denied that the recorded talks were related to the crash of MH17 and blamed the Ukrainian government for shooting it down. According to Nayda, after downing the plane under separatist direction, the launcher's Russian crew quickly moved it back across the border into Russia.

On 21 July, the Russian Defence Ministry held a press conference and said that just before the crash, a Ukrainian Su-25 ground-attack aircraft approached to within 3 to 5 kilometres (1.9 to 3.1 mi) of the Malaysian airliner. The Ministry also stated that satellite photographs showed that the Ukrainian army moved a Buk SAM battery to the area close to the territory controlled by the rebels on the morning of 17 July, hours before the crash. They said the installation was then moved away again by 18 July.

US officials said that satellite data from infrared sensors detected the explosion of flight MH17. American intelligence agencies said that analysis of the launch plume and trajectory suggested the missile was fired from an area between Torez and Snizhne. Satellites are also likely to have registered the heat signature of the launch of the missile and the activation of the missile launcher tracking radar.

An anonymous US intelligence official stated that Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 may have been shot down in error by pro-Russian separatists, citing evidence that separatists launched a SA-11 surface-to-air missile that blew up the Malaysian airliner. The official dismissed Russian allegations that MH17 took evasive action and said the claim that the Ukrainian government had shot down MH17 was not realistic, as Kiev had no such missile systems in that area, which was rebel-controlled. US intelligence officials also claim that Russia was attempting to disguise the flow of weaponry it was delivering to the rebels by sending older weapons that matched Ukraine's inventory..

In an interview with Reuters on 23 July 2014, Alexander Khodakovsky, the commander of the pro-Russian Vostok Battalion, acknowledged that the separatists had an anti-aircraft missile of the type the US has said was used to shoot down the plane and that it could have been sent back to Russia to remove proof of its presence; he later said that he had been misquoted and that rebels have never had a Buk.

Recovery of casualties

First arrival of bodies at Eindhoven Airport

Convoy of 40 hearses heading to Hilversum, while other traffic stopped

A Ukraine Foreign Ministry representative said that the bodies found at the crash site would be taken to Kharkiv for identification, a city 270 kilometres (170 mi) to the north. By 18 July, one hundred eighty-one of the two hundred ninety-eight bodies had been found.

On 19 July, Andriy Lysenko, the spokesman of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, said that the insurgents removed 38 bodies from the crash site to extract parts of the missile used to shoot down the plane, and destroy the evidence.

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 body bags, and loaded on to lorries.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte complained about the lack of respect shown to the personal belongings of the dead which were reportedly looted. He initially announced his disgust about the handling of the bodies of the casualties that were reportedly being "dragged around" and "thrown", but later stated the bodies were handled with more care than originally estimated. On 20 July, Ukrainian emergency workers, observed by armed separatists, began loading the remains of the passengers of MH17 into refrigerated railway wagons for transport and identification.

On 21 July, pro-Russian rebels allowed Dutch investigators to examine the bodies. By this time, 272 bodies had been recovered. Remains left Torez on a train on the evening of 21 July, en route to Kharkiv to be flown to the Netherlands for identification. On the same day, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that the Malaysian government had reached a tentative agreement to retrieve the remains of the Malaysians who died in the crash, following any necessary forensic work.

It was reported on 21 July that with 282 bodies and 87 body fragments found, there were still 16 bodies missing. An agreement has been reached that the Netherlands will co-ordinate the identification effort. All remains will be moved to the Netherlands with Dutch air force C-130 and Australian C-17 transport planes. A train carrying the bodies arrived at the Malyshev Factory, Kharkiv on 22 July, with the first remains to be flown to Eindhoven on 23 July. The investigation will be conducted at the Netherlands Army medical regiment training facility in Hilversum by an international team. The British Metropolitan Police is liaising with international partners to send specialist officers to assist with the recovery, identification and repatriation of those who died.

Dutch authorities stated on 23 July that they found 200 bodies on the train when it arrived at Kharkhiv, leaving almost 100 unaccounted for. Two Dutch and one Australian aircraft flew the first bodies out of Kharviv later that day. The aircraft landed at Eindhoven Airport just before 16:00 local time. The day afterwards another 74 bodies arrived.

Reactions

Main article: International reactions to the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 shootdown

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called the crash the result of an act of terrorism, and also called for an international investigation into the crash.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in an address to parliament that the aircraft was downed by a missile which seems to have been launched by Russian-backed rebels. Julie Bishop, the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs said in an interview on an Australian television programme that it was "extraordinary" that her Russian counterparts have refused to speak to her over the shoot-down after the Russian ambassador was summoned to meet her. The Russian government was critical of Abbott's response; Abbott was one of the first world leaders to publicly connect the shoot-down to Russia. Abbott later criticized the recovery efforts as "shambolic", and "more like a garden clean-up than a forensic investigation"; Bishop publicly warned separatist forces against treating the victims' bodies as hostages.

Malaysian Deputy Foreign Minister Hamzah Zainuddin said that the foreign ministry would be working with the Russian and Ukrainian governments with regard to the incident. Prime Minister Najib Razak later said that Malaysia was unable to verify the cause of the crash and demanded that the perpetrators be punished. The Malaysian government flew the national flag at half-mast from 18 July until 21 July.

Flag at half mast in front of city hall of Hoorn during the national day of mourning.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and King Willem-Alexander voiced their shock at the crash, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Frans Timmermans joined 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 on the last day of the Nijmegen Marches. On 21 July the Netherlands opened a war crimes investigation on the downing of the aircraft. The country's prosecutor is in Ukraine for that purpose. Rutte threatened tough action against Russia if it did not help in the investigation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Ukraine bears responsibility for the incident which happened in its territory, which he said would not have happened if hostilities had not resumed in the south-east of Ukraine. He also said that it was important to refrain from making any hasty conclusions and politicized statements before the end of the investigation. He said that Russia would help an international inquiry led by the ICAO. On 19 July the Russian Ministry of Defence announced "10 questions to the Ukrainian government" regarding the incident.

United States President Barack Obama said the US would help determine the cause. In a press statement, White House spokesman Josh Earnest called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine to allow for a full investigation. Vice-President Joe Biden said the plane appeared to have been deliberately shot down, and offered US assistance for the investigation into the crash. US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power called on Russia to end the war. The British government requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council and called an emergency Cobra meeting after the incident. Commander of the Donbass People's Militia Igor Girkin was quoted as stating that "a significant number of the bodies weren't fresh". He followed up by saying "Ukrainian authorities are capable of any baseness"; and also said that blood serum and medications were found in the plane's remnants in large quantities.

The European Union's 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.

The International Civil Aviation Organization declared that it was sending its team of experts to assist the National Bureau of Air Accidents Investigation of Ukraine (NBAAI), under Article 26 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation. The United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2166 on 21 July, regarding an official crime investigation into the incident.

A makeshift memorial at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Netherlands for victims of flight MH17

Since the crash, memorial services have been held in Australia and in the Netherlands, which declared 23 July, the day when the first victims arrived in the country, a national day of mourning, the first since 1962. The opening ceremony of the AIDS 2014 conference, of which several delegates were on board flight MH17, began with a tribute to the victims of the crash. In Malaysia, makeshift memorials were created in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur.

Media coverage

See also: Media portrayal of the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine

Media coverage of the crash in Russia has differed from coverage by other unaffiliated media. On 22 July a US official claimed that the Russian government was manipulating the media towards Russia's version of the story.

The Russian government-funded outlet RT initially said that the plane was shot down by Ukraine in a failed attempt to assassinate Vladimir Putin, in a plot which was organized by Ukraine's "Western backers". Other theories propagated by Russian media include: an allegation that the Ukrainians shot down the plane in a botched attempt at mass murder of Russian citizens; that Ukrainian air traffic controllers purposefully redirected the flight to fly over the war zone; and that the Ukrainian government organized the attack on the plane to bring infamy upon the pro-Russian rebels.

Sara Firth, a correspondent with RT, for which she had worked for over the previous five years, resigned 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 "we were not surprised by Sara Firth's decision to leave RT after five years as a Moscow and London correspondent, as she has recently informed us that she was likely to take an offer from another firm".

On 18 July, The Daily Telegraph, along with other sources, reported that the Russian government agencies had modified or deleted information on Russian Wikipedia pages relating to the MH17 incident, to remove statements that it helped provide the missile system used to shoot down the aircraft. The Toronto Star also reported that an IP address associated with Putin's office also made edits to the article. Among the pages that were said to have been edited was the Russian version of an article listing civil aviation incidents, to say that "the plane [Flight MH17] was shot down by Ukrainian soldiers".

On 25 July, Novaya Gazeta published a "provocative apology" for the disaster, with the left-leaning Russian newspaper printing a bold headline in Dutch that read "Vergeef ons, Nederland" ("Forgive Us, Netherlands").

External links

• Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, official updates regarding Malaysia Airlines Flight 17
• MH17 Passenger Manifest at Malaysia Airlines (official passenger list)
• Malaysia Airlines plane MH17 'shot down' in Ukraine – as it happened, The Guardian
• Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 playback on Flightradar24
• MH17 17 July 2014 on FlightAware
• Images and videos from Daily News
• Images from RT
• MH17 Boeing 777 Plane Crash, Ukraine (Jul 2014) – an album on Flickr
• Maps of the crash – New York Times