GILZE-RIJEN AIR BASE (Netherlands), July 17 – The horrific state of the reconstructed wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 – devoid of wings, tyres, tail, and passenger seats – serves as a gruesome reminder of the atrocity that claimed the lives of 298 people decade ago.
The Boeing 777 was shot down over eastern Ukraine after taking off from Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew members onboard on July 17, 2014.
The wreckage of the plane has been reassembled for investigative purposes in both criminal and civil proceedings and journalists have been allowed to enter the reconstructed plane – or what is left of it – to inspect the condition of the aircraft.
A group of Malaysian journalists who viewed the reconstructed wreckage during a recent visit to the military base in Gilze-Rijen, central Netherlands, could barely recognise the reconstructed cockpit, which included the pilot’s chair and control panel.
The cockpit had taken the initial hit, and was pierced by shrapnel from the missile, while the rest of the aircraft was torn apart in mid-air.
The aircraft, manufactured in 1997, had a clean maintenance record and was last inspected on July 11, 2014, six days before it was hit by a BUK missile during its fateful flight over eastern Ukraine.
Due to the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine at that time, investigators had difficulty recovering the aircraft’s wreckage, which was spread across six locations.
Sections of the tail landed about eight kilometres east of the cockpit and the centre section was destroyed by fire.
There were nationals from 17 countries onboard Flight MH17, including 198 Dutch nationals, 43 Malaysians, 38 Australians, and 10 from the United Kingdom.
