Shooting down of MH17 ‘most likely’ scenario
A Malaysia Airlines miniature plane with a text reading “RIP MH17” is displayed at a memorial site for the victims of the MH17 air disaster at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2014. AP
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands — The chief Dutch prosecutor overseeing the criminal investigation into the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 says that the plane being shot down from the ground is the “most likely” scenario being probed by dozens of investigators.
Fred Westerbeke of the Dutch National Prosecutors Office told reporters Friday that the shooting-down scenario “is the one getting the most attention now” in the international criminal investigation into the July 17 downing of the Boeing 777 over eastern Ukraine.
The plane went down over territory held by pro-Russian rebels, killing all 298 passengers and crew on board.
A separate Dutch air crash investigation concluded this week that the plane was hit from the outside by numerous high-energy objects, but stopped short of calling it a missile strike.
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