Netherlands To Reassemble MH17 Debris Before Reconstructing The Crashed Malaysia Airlines Jet
With Netherlands restarting the process of collecting more MH17 debris from the crash site in eastern Ukraine, the plan is to transport the entire wreckage to a military base in Netherlands and reassemble it. This will be to hasten the investigation into the air tragedy. Netherlands is taking more interest because two-thirds of those who perished on the flight, which took off from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, were Dutch nationals.
The job of collecting the new wreckage has been given to a local emergency service working under Dutch supervision. Right now, the debris is spread in an area where frequent fighting erupts between Russia-backed rebels and troops loyal to the Kiev government. Efforts are on to truck them to the air base by next week.
Collection of Wreckage
The reassembling process will be done at a military base in Netherlands, Dutch authorities said, according to a Reuters report. Debris of the crashed aircraft was lying scattered for many months after the Boeing 777 was downed on July 17, killing 298 people on board, because external investigators faced difficulty entering the area.
According to LA Times, the debris would be taken to the Gilze Rijen Air Base in convoys. Once the relocation is complete, the authorities will reconstruct the plane. The Dutch Safety Board, in a statement, said the Defence ministry has finalised the plans for loading the wreckage into trucks. Some freshly recovered human remains have also been flown back to Netherlands, and they have been taken to a military base, not identified, so far.
A fresh look at the reasons behind the crash has become essential, after the preliminary report of the Dutch-led international investigative team described the reason of the crash as "caused by high-energy objects." It was consistent with the theory that the jet was hit by a ground-to-air missile, although investigators say they are not ruling out air-to-air missile as a cause of the crash.
Conflicting Theories
The MH17 jet exploded at 33,000 feet, and so many crash theories are floating around, which are apparently conflicting. Ukrainian military officials claim they intercepted radio communications between Russian and separatist commanders confirming Ukrainian rebels having hit the civilian passenger jet with a missile. But Russia and the Ukraine separatists are asserting that the plane was downed by an air-to-air missile, and they allege the involvement of Ukrainian military forces.