MOSCOW, September 9 (RIA Novosti) – The preliminary report on the crash of the MH17 plane released by the Dutch Safety Board suggests that military weapons were used to destroy the aircraft, and although it remains unclear who fired at the plane, a third party was likely involved, a number of experts told International Information Agency Rossiya Segodnya Tuesday.
“The preliminary report supports the scenario of military weapons having been used to down the plane. I think that a third-party was involved in the Boeing crash, because it is clear that it was not caused by technical failure or human error,” Polish aviation expert Roman Peczka said in an interview with Rossiya Segodnya.
Japanese political expert Ken Ishigooka noted that MH17 was likely hit by a missile, although it would be hard to establish where the missile was fired from.
“We can suppose that the aircraft was brought down by a missile. But it’s still unclear where the missile was launched from and who pressed the button. Some versions suggest that the aircraft was hit by a missile launched from a Buk system. But there are a number of such surface-to-air missile systems in possession of both the Ukrainian forces and the Donetsk republic. It would be very difficult to establish who really fired the missile,” Ishigooka told Rossiya Segodnya.
According to Serbian aviation expert Petar Voinovich, the Malaysia Airlines plane could have been downed by any high-precision missile, not necessarily Buk.
“The report hints that MH17 was brought down by a missile launched from a highly effective surface-to-air missile system, but not necessarily Buk,” Voinovich said adding that a “potential” Buk missile could have been fired by either the Kiev forces or independence fighters in eastern Ukraine.
The remarks come as the Dutch Safety Board revealed the causes of the MH17 crash in its early report on Tuesday, saying that the Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777 fell into pieces during flight after being hit by “a large number of high-energy objects."
MH17 proceeded as normal until 13:20:03 (UTC), (13:20:03 GMT) according to the report. The communications among the crew members recorded on the cockpit voice recorder show no signs of any technical faults or an emergency situation. No warning tones are heard in the recording and no emergency calls were made.
The investigation was conducted in accordance with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards, a specialized United Nations agency. The only objective of this investigation is the prevention of similar accidents and incidents, the report says.
Flight MH17, was heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, when it crashed on July 17 in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. Kiev accuses independence fighters of shooting the aircraft down but cannot provide any evidence. Local militia leaders insist that they do not have weapons capable of downing a plane at 32,000 feet.
The Dutch Safety Board does not have the right to apportion blame or responsibility on any party.
