Some MH17 passengers ‘alive for 90secs’ after missile struck aircraft

Investigators believe some passengers on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 could have been alive - if unconscious - for a minute or more as the airliner plummeted to the ground. Dutch-led investigators have concluded the aircraft was shot down by a Russian-made BUK missile over eastern Ukraine. The Boeing 777 was brought down as it flew over heavy fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists last year, killing all 298 people on board. Most of those not killed by the missile’s impact would have been rendered unconscious by the sudden decompression of the aircraft and a lack of oxygen at 33,000 feet, the board’s official report found.

Quiet as a mouse.

Robby Oehlers, cousin of one of the victims, describes the atmosphere as the families were told the news

There was some evidence, however, of passengers gripping arm rests. The front of the jet was reconstructed in a hanger at Gilze-Rijen Airforce Base in The Netherlands for the release of the report. The Dutch Safety Board (DSB) found the type of missile exploded less than a metre from the plane’s cockpit. The Ukrainian and Western governments have long blamed pro-Russian separatists, claiming they used a Russian-supplied BUK missile, fragments of which were found at the crash site. Both the Russian and Ukrainian militaries have BUK missile systems in their arsenal. The issue of flying over areas of known conflict was also raised by investigators. The DSB said 61 airliners were flying over eastern Ukraine around the time of the crash.

It cannot be ruled out that some occupants remained conscious for some time during the one to one-and-a-half minutes for which the crash lasted.

One of the report conclusions

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