The DSB led the investigation into the cause of the crash on July 17 last year and made public the long awaited findings during a presentation at Gilze-Rijen Airbase on Tuesday.
"A 9N314M warhead, launched by a Buk surface-to-air missile system, detonated to the left and above the cockpit," DSB Chairman Tjibbe Joustra said. "The forward section of the aircraft was penetrated by hundreds of high-energy objects coming from the warhead. As a result of the impact and the subsequent blast, the three crew members in the cockpit were killed immediately and the airplane broke up in the air. Wreckage was distributed over various sites within an area of 50 square kilometers. All 298 occupants were killed."
"Other potential causes, such as an explosion inside the airplane or an air-to-air missile, have been investigated and excluded," added Joustra when presenting the reports. "No scenario other than a Buk surface-to-air missile can explain this combination of facts."
The reports stated that the missile was launched from a 320-square-km area in the eastern part of Ukraine, but did not mention the exact location of the launch of the Buk rocket, which could have led to answering the question of responsibility.
