Dutch safety board says Buk missile downed flight MH 17

BRUSSELS, Oct 13 (KUNA) -- The Malaysian airlines flight MH17 was brought down by a Buk missile made by Russia, the Dutch safety board which is investigating the cause of the accident, said on Tuesday.
"We are talking about a 9N314M missile which was fired by a Buk launcher," Dutch media reported board chairman Tjibbe Joustra saying.
"It hit the left-hand side of the cockpit. This is why the cockpit broke off from the body of the plane," he noted.
Joustra also said that airspace above eastern Ukraine should have been closed because of the risk to aircraft.
"Well before the disaster there was information available which pointed to the fact that civil aviation faced dangers,آ’ he said. آ‘But despite this information, Ukraine did not close the airspace.," he said.
Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was brought down by a rocket over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 people on board. Most were Dutch nationals. (end) nk.mt