A panel investigating the cause of crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 is set to release its final report on Tuesday, Oct 13, VOA has reported. Rather than determining who really fired the missile that brought the doomed plane down, the report is expected to shed light on how the plane came down.
The panel is comprised of experts from all the countries that had passengers in the doomed plane: Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia and Ukraine.
Flight MH17 crashed over Eastern Ukraine in July 17, 2014 killing all 298 passengers and crew on board, among them 80 children, according to Russia Today. Preliminary reports pointed to the likelihood of the plane having broken into two while still high above after being hit by a high-energy projectile.
A day after the plane was shot down, Ukraine released exclusive "intercepted phone conversations" in a tape, in which Moscow-backed rebels were heard confirming that they had indeed brought down the aircraft by mistake. Russia quickly dismissed the tape as fake and one that could not be independently verified.
Flight MH17 was flying to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam when it came down in Donestk, an area in Ukraine that was experiencing fierce fighting between Ukraine forces and rebels, according to Sputnik News. Most of the dead passengers were Dutch citizens.
While the report to be released on Tuesday was compiled by a team from several countries, Toon van Wijk, spokesman for the Dutch Safety Board, has revealed that the country's Ministry Of Justice has formed a new investigative panel whose role will be to find out who exactly fired the fatal missile that brought down the plane. That would be welcomed news for relatives and friends of the victims who've always sought to bring a conclusive closure into the tragic event.
