DUTCH AIR CRASH investigators have announced that they will release a preliminary report next Tuesday into what brought down flight MH17 over east Ukraine, killing 298 passengers.

“The preliminary report will present factual information based on sources available to the Dutch Safety Board (OVV),” investigators said in a statement.

The highly-anticipated first report will be released on the OVV’s website but there will be “no press conference,” it said.

Final report

“In the months to come further investigation is needed before the final report is written,” added the OVV, which earlier said it hoped to have a final report “within a year.”

The Netherlands is in charge of probing the crash of the Malaysia airlines Boeing 777 which exploded over strife-torn Ukraine on July 17, killing all on board, including 193 Dutch citizens.

The West has blamed Russian-backed separatists for shooting down MH17, while Moscow blames Kiev.

AP / Press Association Images A Malaysia Airlines crew member places a flower next to candles forming the letters MH17. AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

Crash site

Air crash investigators returned to The Hague from Ukraine in early August without being able to visit the crash site, due to the deteriorating security situation in the country’s volatile east.

Ukranian air crash experts — who now form part of the OVV team — did however visit the scene shortly after the crash.

Vincent Thian Malaysian Army soldiers carry a coffin containing one of the bodies of the downed MH17 flight upon arrival at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Vincent Thian

The aircraft’s black boxes have been shipped to Farnborough in Britain to be examined by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch.

The search for body parts, however, has been suspended since early August due to heavy fighting between Kiev and pro-Moscow rebels in the area.

Funeral 

Vincent Thian Malaysian Army soldiers carry a Urn containing Pilot of the downed MH17 flight Eugene Choo at his home in Seremban, Malaysia. Vincent Thian

The funeral of one of the pilots of the Malaysian flight took place yesterday. The Rakyat Post reports that Captain Eugene Choo Jin Leong’s eldest son, Melvic Choo, received the urn bearing his father’s ashes at their family home in Sri Carcosa.

Choo left a wife, Ivy Loi, 42, and two sons, Melvic Choo, 13, and Scott Choo, 10.

© – AFP 2014

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