MOSCOW, September 9 (RIA Novosti) – The trajectory of the Malaysian Boeing that crashed over Ukraine in July shows the missile that allegedly hit the aircraft had been launched from the areas to the west of the crash area, a French aviation expert told International Information Agency Rossiya Segodnya.
General Jean du Verdier, who has previously worked for the French Permanent Aviation Safety Council, said in an interview Monday that if the plane fell near the village of Torez, about 25 miles from the Russian border, according to his calculations, “the shot was fired from deep in the Ukrainian territory.”
“The area [where the plane exploded] cannot be near Torez. It is much further to the west! Although this cannot serve as evidence that the missile that hit the plane, if this is the case, was launched from the west,” the general said.
The French expert also complained that the investigation into the Boeing crash is lacking information and there is no surveillance data to confirm his version. Meanwhile, he rejected reports that the Malaysian plane was fired upon by an interceptor aircraft that « neutralized the pilots » and made the plane uncontrollable.
“Of course, the plane could have been downed this way. But this attack could not have taken place without leaving traces on the aircraft itself,” he said. “I think that the plane could not have exploded like this if it had been fired upon from aircraft weapons,” he added.
The remarks come as the panel of investigators revealed the causes of the crash in its early report on Tuesday saying that the Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777, which crashed in eastern Ukraine, 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), 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, there were no warning tones heard in the recording and no emergency calls were made.
The investigation was conducted according to 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, flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashed on July 17 in the Donetsk region, killing all 298 people on board. Kiev accuses independence supporters in eastern Ukraine of shooting it down but cannot provide any evidence. The local militia leaders insist that they do not have weapons capable of shooting down a plane flying at 32,000 feet.
The Dutch Safety Board does not have the right to apportion blame or responsibility on any party.
