LONDON – Dutch prosecutors hope to confirm by this summer the launch site of the Buk surface-to-air missile that shot down Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 in July 2014, killing 298 people.
The Netherlands National Public Prosecution Service has told relatives of those who died in the incident that it hopes to confirm the location of the launch site and gather more information on the possible perpetrators by this summer. The agency will also confirm what type of weapon was used.
“It is not possible to say when in the future the JIT [Joint Investigation Team] will be able to establish what their exact connection to the crime is, their identity, and actual place of residence,” the agency said in a Feb. 19 statement.
The agency said it would not reveal to the media the contents of the letter sent to the victims’ relatives. But Dutch outlet RTL Niewus reported that the letter, written by chief investigator Fred Westerbeke, says that no footage or imagery exists of the missile launch and there are no satellite images because of overcast conditions on the day of the shootdown. He added that the agency was requesting radar imagery from Russia and that negotiations were ongoing.
The letter also says that other methods are being used to provide evidence, including telephone taps, images and local testimony.
The Dutch Safety Board’s final report concluded that the aircraft had been brought down by a 9M38-series missile from a Buk surface-to-air missile launcher. The investigation team said the missile had been launched from within a region measuring 320 sq. km, well inside rebel-held territory in Eastern Ukraine. The Kiev Research Institute for Forensic Expertise narrowed the potential launch area down to a 4-sq-km area of agricultural land near the town of Snizhne. The same area has also been identified by journalists as well as researchers using open-source intelligence, including imagery and social media.
The Dutch team were deliberately vague about the version of the missile, as components found in the wreckage form part of the criminal investigation.