On July 17, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 broke apart in the air after it was hit with a burst of “high-energy objects” from outside of the plane. Flight 17 went down in eastern Ukraine in an area controlled by pro-Russian separatists. 298 people were killed in the crash. Both the U.S. and the Ukraine have accused these pro-Russian separatists that occupy this region of shooting down the plane. The Dutch Safety Board report agrees with the theory of a missile exploding close to the passenger jet. But, there is no physical proof that these pro-Russian separatists fired a missile at the airliner or any evidence pointing towards anyone or anything else being responsible for the crash. There are no indications that the crash was caused by a technical fault or any actions of the flight crew. The separatists, who deny being responsible for the plane crash, took control of the crash site for weeks while they looked through the wreckage. This made it very difficult for investigators to gain access to the site. The recorders in the plane were not given to international investigators for several days. But the Dutch report showed that there was no evidence of manipulation or tampering of the recorders. There were also no signs or any alerts or problems communicated between the crew on the flight data recorders.
The unstable situation in eastern Ukraine has made it impossible for Dutch investigators to actually get to the site of the crash. The Dutch Safety Board says that they will move into the site and further investigate as soon as it is possible to safely enter this area of Ukraine. The Dutch investigators, because they could not physically be present at the site of the crash, had to rely on pictures of the crash site taken by officials from Ukraine’s National Bureau of Air Accidents Investigation during a series of short visits to the site in July. Investigators released a list of areas that still require further investigation, including forensic examination of the plane wreckage and any foreign objects found on or near the site.
A new report of the cause of the crash taken on September 9, 2014, confirms that the crash was not a result of technical or human error. This new movement in the investigation matches claims that a missile or other foreign object hit MH17 and caused it to crash.