http://www.theguardian.com/world/20...nstruced-blames-buk-missile-strike?CMP=twt_gu A Buk surface-to-air missile downed flight MH17, Dutch investigators have said as they unveiled a reconstruction of the plane that showed huge shrapnel damage to the cockpit and front section. Tjibbe Joustra, the chairman of the Dutch safety board, said the Malaysia Airlines plane was hit by a 9N314M warhead on 17 July 2014, as it flew at 33,000ft (10,000 metres) above eastern Ukraine. The warhead was fitted to a “9M28 missile” fired from a Russian-built Buk missile system, he confirmed. Speaking in front of the reconstructed plane – pieced together from parts of recovered debris, fitted around a metal skeleton – Joustra said all other scenarios to explain the disaster, which killed all 298 people on board, had been ruled out. An animated video was shown to journalists at the Gilze-Rijen airbase in the Netherlands, where the plane was part reassembled over three months. It showed the Buk missile exploding on the left-hand side of the cockpit. Thousands of metal objects were ejected, with hundreds then penetrating the plane with tremendous force, Joustra said. The impact and ensuing pressure drop killed the three pilots instantly,he said. On-board microphones captured the moment of impact – “a sound ping”. This allowed investigators to determine the devastating blast occurred on the upper-left hand side of the cockpit.
