(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Malaysia vowed on Tuesday to seek the prosecution of the "trigger-happy criminals" who downed flight MH17, after a Dutch-led investigation said it was shot down by a missile fired from war-torn eastern Ukraine.
Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said in a statement that as a party to the investigation "Malaysia remains single-minded in our pursuit of decisive action that will lead to prosecution of the trigger-happy criminals."
Prime Minister Najib Razak also released a statement vowing that his government would continue to press for justice "until those behind this heinous act are made to pay for their crimes."
In a highly anticipated announcement, the chairman of the Dutch Safety Board, Tjibbe Joustra, told a press conference in the Netherlands that the Malaysia Airlines plane was likely downed by a missile fired from a Russian BUK surface-to-air missile system.
Maps shown to reporters also indicated the missile was believed to have been fired from territory held by pro-Russian separatists.
All 298 people on board, most of them Dutch citizens, were killed.
The Dutch Safety Board, which led the international team of investigators, has stressed that its mandate was not to determine who pulled the trigger, amid a separate criminal probe by Dutch prosecutors.
Findings disputed
Although the Dutch-led inquiry did not say who pulled the trigger, Russian officials were already disputing the findings which are set to further degrade strained ties between Moscow and the West.
"Flight MH17 crashed as a result of the detonation of a warhead outside the airplane against the left-hand side of the cockpit," Joustra told a press conference in Gilze-Rijen.
"This warhead fits the kind of missile that is installed in the BUK surface-to-air missile system."
The much-anticipated report also said it was possible that some on board the Boeing 777 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur may have been conscious during the 90 seconds it took to crash on July 17 last year.
"The wreckage was spread over several sites" near the villages of Grabove, Rozsypne and Ptropavlivka, most of which were in rebel territory, the Dutch report said.
The inquiry has marked out a 320 square kilometre area in eastern Ukraine from which the missile must have been fired to cause the amount of damage.
But it did not specify whether it came from an area under the control of pro-Russian separatists battling Ukrainian forces.
Eerie reconstruction
Standing in front of an eerie reconstruction of the plane's cockpit made from the wreckage, Joustra said the inquiry had not pinned down the exact location of the missile launch site, saying that would take further investigation.
But earlier the respected Volkskrant daily said sources close to the investigation had pointed to it being fired by pro-Russian rebels.
"The BUK missile is developed and made in Russia," one source told the daily.
"It can be assumed that the rebels would not be able to operate such a device. I suspect the involvement of former Russian military officials."
Joustra also hit out at the Ukrainian authorities for allowing civil aircraft to continue to fly above the eastern part of the country despite the raging conflict between Kiev's forces and pro-Russian separatist insurgents.
160 planes in the sky
On the day that MH17 was blown out of the skies, some 160 commercial flights overflew the area, the inquiry said.
"There was sufficient reason for the Ukrainian authorities to close the air space above the eastern part of their country," Joustra said.
Relatives earlier emerged visibly shaken after being privately briefed by Joustra in a conference centre. One of them, Robby Oehlers said a wave of sadness had swept through the room.
"They showed us the fragments that were inside the plane," Oehlers said, adding in the room "it was so quiet, you could have heard a pin drop."
The downing of MH17 threw the global spotlight back on the uprising in eastern Ukraine and was followed by a toughening of Western sanctions against Russia.
Tuesday's findings were swiftly dismissed by the missile maker Almaz-Antey, after a test which "disputes the version of the Dutch," adding the damage to the MH17 pointed to the use of an older type of missile.
"The results of the experiment completely dispute the conclusions of the Dutch commission about the type of the rocket and the launch site," said Yan Novikov, director of Almaz-Antey.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.