Exclusive details from Dutch Safety Board report on MH17 crash

According to a preliminary report released by the Dutch Safety Board (DSB) on Tuesday, the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crash was probably the result of structural damage caused by a large number of high-energy objects that penetrated the aircraft from outside.

On July 17, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, was presumed shot down while flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur over an area of Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists, killing 283 passengers and 15 crew members. Currently, the remains of 183 of 298 people have been identified. Most of the passengers on board the flight were Dutch nationals, but there were also a number of Malaysians and Australians. The wreckage of the Boeing 777 aircraft was dispersed over a village called Hrabove in eastern Ukraine.

"The MH17 crash has shocked the world and raised many questions. The Dutch Safety Board wishes to determine the cause of the crash, for the sake of the loved ones of the victims and for the society at large," said Tjibbe Joustra, Chairman of the DSB, in a press release statement accompanying the report.

While no official on-site investigation has been made, images of the site have been made available to the DSB by the National Bureau of Air Accident Investigation of Ukraine (NBAAI), whose officials made a few visits in the early days after the crash.

The images provided more conclusive evidence showing that the damage to the aircraft fuselage and the cockpit was a result of an "in-flight break up" which could only have been cause externally by "high-energy objects", according to the report.

The Dutch Safety Board has had to rely on other sources to support their findings consistent with the Boeing's wreckage in order to conclude that a technical cause was not the reason for the plane's demise.

Key findings in the report:

* According to official documents, there were no technical malfunctions with the aircraft when the flight departed from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
* No signs of aircraft system malfunctions were heard on the Cockpit Voice Recorder
* No technical malfunctions in relation to the crash were found on the Flight Data Recorder
* Both recordings ended at the same time
* Air Traffic Control (ATC) did not receive any distress message from the flight
* Based on the available maintenance history the airplane was airworthy when it took off from Amsterdam and there were no known technical problems
* A full listening of the communications among the crew members in the cockpit recorded on the Cockpit Voice Recorder revealed no signs of any technical faults or an emergency situation
* The radio communications with Ukrainian Air traffic control confirm that no emergency call was made by the cockpit crew
* The final calls by Ukrainian air traffic control made between 13.20:00 and 13.22:02 (UTC/GMT) remained answered.

No evidence of technical glitch and human error

Mentioning that there were no evidence to show that the crew was negligent in any way, the report says, "Information received by Malaysia Airlines indicates that all flight crew members were qualified to operate a Boeing 777 in commercial passenger operation and had valid medical certificates. Both captains had over 10,000 flying hours, of which more than 7,000 hours were on Boeing 777 aircraft."

More research required

Outlining the further steps that are required to continue the search of the plane's wreckage, the report mentions that the investigation is still going on and more research will be required to determine the cause of the crash. Joustra, the DSB chairman, stated that the initial results of the investigation point towards an external cause of the crash. "More research will be necessary to determine the cause with greater precision. The Dutch Safety Board believes that additional evidence will become available for investigation." 

In a press conference on September 6, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that Malaysia will be sending its own search team to investigate the crash site in Ukraine before the Dutch Safety Board came out. In the coming days, the DSB is hoping to publish a more detailed report on the first anniversary of the crash.

Tjibbe Joustra, Chairman of the Dutch Safety explains the preliminary report: