MH17 preliminary report blames high speed hit for aircraft splitting into pieces

A preliminary report by the Dutch Safety Board has revealed that Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 'split into pieces' after it was hit by a high speeding object mid-flight. The report says that it took less than seven seconds for the jet to crash down from the sky killing 298 people on board.

According to News.com.au, there was no evidence of any pilot error or technical faults, cockpit communications found. The last communication from the Malaysian airlines was made to change the course in order to avoid traffic in the area, said the report. There was nothing amiss with the flight and the debris is consistent with the aircraft having split up in the air. Valid flight data from the black boxes was used in the report along with information from photos, air traffic control and satellite and radar images. Families of the victims were given access to the report an hour before it was released on the Dutch Safety Board website.