Bodies flown to Holland MH 17

Somber pictures.

Finally, the bodies of the deceased from MH 17 crash have been flown from Ukraine to Holland.  Here are some pictures.

Ukraine guard of Honour.

Loading the coffins onto the Dutch military plane.

Military plane carrying the bodies landing in Holland.

Pall bearers, loading wooden coffins onto the hearses.

Convoy

Convoy.  Roads were closed.  Many turned out to watch the convoy past, as a sign of respect.

Convoy.  Onlookers from an overhead bridge. 

Convoy. Netherlands flag flying at half mast.

Convoy

The next difficult task is to positively identify the remains.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the relatives and friends of the victims of MH17.  Rest in peace.

MH 17 Shot Down by Missile - Clues from Wreckage

JULY 21,2014

Photographs of a piece of wreckage found by two reporters for The New York Times and analyzed by Reed Foster, a defense analyst with IHS Jane’s, offers some clues about what could have caused Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 to crash.

While it is impossible from the photographs to determine that a specific missile was used, Mr. Foster said, the damage is consistent with the effects of a fragmentary warhead carried by an SA-11, the type of missile that American officials have said was most likely behind the attack.

The shrapnel came from outside the plane.
Mr. Foster said the contour of the aluminum and the blistering of the paint around many of the holes indicate that small pieces of high-velocity shrapnel entered the aircraft externally. Mr. Foster said the two most likely causes were an engine explosion or an exploding missile.

Many of the holes are relatively small ... 

Mr. Foster said “most of the smaller holes appear to have been caused by a high-velocity projectile, as opposed to shearing or tearing caused by the forceful separation of the panel from the airframe.” He said the SA-11 family of missiles was designed to destroy fast-moving military aircraft at high elevations. Rather than striking an aircraft directly, the missiles intercept the targeted aircraft and then explode near it, creating a cloud of shrapnel.

... and uniform in size.

Most of the perforations are about the same size, and the fragments seemed to have entered from a front angle, Mr. Foster said. He said that fragmentary-warhead missiles try to “put as many consistently sized, low-drag fragments into the airframe as possible.” The shrapnel damage is different from what would be expected after an aircraft-engine explosion, Mr. Foster said, which would have caused “longer, thinner, oblique tears across the aircraft skin, with a slight hump toward the point where the fragment entered the skin, rather than the majority of punctures present.”

From the looks of it, it is clearly a missile that brought the plane down.

The question now is this - who shot the missile?

The Russians say that the Ukrainians did it.

The Ukrainians say that the pro-Russian rebels did it.

MH 17 Black Boxes Handed Over

Malaysian PM Najib brokered a deal with self-proclaimed leader of the Donetsk People's Republic to hand over the black bodies and get the bodies back.

The transfer was completed in the early hours of 1.10am local time on the 11th floor of the self-styled Donetsk People’s Republic’s administration building. The two black boxes were handed over after hours of talks and one aborted attempt earlier at 10pm. It is not clear why they were not passed at earlier occasion during the night. “We have decided to hand the black boxes over to Malaysian experts,” Borodai said.

The Malaysian team of experts and representatives of the separatist group then signed a protocol before the bright orange boxes were handed over. “On behalf of the Malaysian government I thank the government of the Donetsk Republic for handing us the two black boxes which are the property of Malaysia,” said a member of the Malaysian team. “We have not found the black boxes from flight MH370 (which disappeared over the Indian Ocean in March), so are happy to be able to recover these. “I see that the black boxes are intact with only minor damage.”

One of the boxes will contain all conversation in the cockpit and another all flight data. During the transfer Borodai again denied that rebels were responsible for downing the Malaysia Airlines jetliner with 283 passengers and 15 crew on board.

Blame the Ukrainians
“The Ukrainians had the technical capabilities and the motives to do it,” he was quoted as saying. The flight recorders will provide the exact time the Boeing 777 came down, its speed and altitude but it may not point to what catastrophic event caused it to break up midair although it is strongly suspected to have been a missile fired from an SU-11 mobile guided missile unit from Russia.

David Cameron's post on Facebook (MH 17)

Long post by UK Prime Minister David Cameron urging Europe to rally against Russia.

 

So, what is going to happen next?

 

Will Putin ever admit that his missile brought down MH 17?

 

MH 17 - Heartbreaking Pictures

Pilots and crew from various airlines paying their tributes to MH17 victims at Schiphol Airport.

Heartbreaking sight at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam: Toys left at a makeshift shrine for the 80 children who were on MH17. There has been a steady stream of visitors and air crew leaving flowers and notes in a condolence book for the victims.

Steady stream.

Rest in Peace.

MH 17 - Passenger Names

Passenger Names - MH 17

Rest in Peace.

Is This The Man Who Shot Down MH 17?

His name is Igor Girkin, who also goes by Igor Strlkov.  He is the self-proclaimed Defense Minister o the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR).  The DPR, like Girkin, is also self-proclaimed and located in an area of eastern Ukraine occupied by pro-Russian separatists.

While Aleksandr Borodai, who appointed himself to Prime Minister of the DPR, denied involvement, Girkin claimed credit for the attack 15 minutes after Malaysia Airlines reported they lost contact with MH17.  Here was his post on the Russian equivalent of Facebook:

Translation
“In the region of Torez AN-26 plane has been shot, it is somewhere near the ‘Progress’ mine. We have warned them – not to fly ‘in our sky’” Girkin posted on VK.com, the Russian equivalent of Facebook.

Girkin later posted, “Here is video-proof of yet another ‘bird fall’. The bird has fallen behind the terricone, it missed the residential quarters. Peaceful citizens were not hurt. There is also information on the second shot plane, ‘Su’ as it seems.”

Both posts were hastily removed. Mention of “Su” presumably refers to the Ukrainian Air Force Su-25 plane that was shot down by a Russian fighter early Thursday while traveling over eastern Ukraine.


Still not enough proof?

Singapore Airlines Flight Path Over Ukraine (MH 17)

There has been a lot of talk in the social media that some airlines have been using Ukrainian airspace, even though there have been warnings.  Technically, the airspace above 32,000 feet was not closed, as clarified by IATA.

However, warnings have been given out that there has been anti-air activity over the region and some airlines had decided not to fly over the airspace from some months ago.

Both Malaysian Airlines and Singapore Airlines continued to use this dangerous airspace, along with a few other airlines. This scathing report is worth a read.
http://www.crikey.com.au/2014/07/18/mh17-malaysia-airlines%E2%80%99-hideous-failure-of-duty-of-care-cost-hundreds-their-lives/

Key observations:
"Eleven minutes after MH17 took off for KL, a Singapore Airlines A380 took off from Paris, also destined to traverse the same airspace, en route to Singapore. However at the moment MH17 was shot out of the sky, the Paris departure SQ333 was further north and well to the west of the Malaysian flight. It wouldn’t have seen its demise. "

"About 32 minutes after MH17 left Amsterdam, a Singapore Airlines 777-200ER, operating as SQ351, took off from Copenhagen bound for Singapore via the same skies, above a war zone in which two other aircraft had been shot down earlier this week — one a Ukrainian military cargo plane and the other one of its jet fighters"

The above are facts.  The article goes on to accuse airlines like the flag carriers of Malaysia and Singapore of failing in the duty of care.  This, of course, is another matter altogether.

However, it is clear that the plane that was shot down could well have been this.  Let's not deny that fact.

SQ has avoided answering all questions directly on this issue.  All SQ has said was this (official Twitter Page) -

Singapore Airlines @SingaporeAir · Jul 17

Customers may wish to note that Singapore Airlines flights are not using Ukraine airspace.

Notice, they are not.  SQ didn't say they were not.  We flew back from London in June.  Here is a video I took.  If you go to 11:40 of the video, you will see that we flew right over Ukraine, likely over all the areas in conflict too.  I am thankful just to be alive!


Our heart goes out to all the relative and loved ones of the victims of MH 17.
The pain and sorrow must be unspeakable.

In this article, it was revealed that SIA had used the same flight path 75 times in the past week leading up to the MAS plane being shot down -
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/sia-used-same-mh17-flight-path-75-times-065907006.html

MH 17 Crash Images here.

Malaysian Airlines MH 17 - Crash Images

Malaysian Airlines Flight MH 17, a Boeing 777, was shot down as the aircraft flew over Ukraine.  Our prayers go out to all the loved ones and relatives of the victims of this terrible disaster.  The perpetrators must be brought to justice!

Press Release by IATA - International Air Transport Association

Press Release No.:  

Date: 17 July 2014

Statement on MH17

Geneva, Switzerland - 7pm

We extend our deepest sympathies to the families and friends of the passengers and crew of MH17. Based on the information currently available it is believed that the airspace that the aircraft was traversing was not subject to restrictions.

Last glimpse of the plane before take off -
http://www.straitstimes.com/the-big-story/mh17-crash-ukraine/story/malaysia-airlines-mh17-crash-last-glimpse-flight-caught-passe


What Type of Missile Shot the Plane Down?
Reports suggest that it was a Russian made Buk missile or SA11.  This is a Soviet era advanced anti-air system, capable of shooting down targets up to 72,000 feet.  The MH plane was flying at 33,000 feet.

This is a possible variant of the Buk missile used.

Warning
This rest of this blog page contains pictures, some rather graphic, of the crash site.   You can see from the pictures that nobody could have survived such a crash.

Rest in peace.

Part 2 - More gruesome crash images here.

The plane that was shot down could easily have been a Singapore Airlines jet.