MALAYSIAN AIRLINES: Remembering the downing of flight MH17

On July 17, 2014, a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER was shot down by Russian separatist forces in the Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine. The scheduled MH17 flight was on its way between Kuala Lumpur and Amsterdam.

All 283 passengers and 15 crew were killed. 38 of those were Australian citizens.

MH17 investigation

The Dutch Safety Board was tasked with investigating the downing of the aircraft. It found that the downing was due to a Buk surface-to-air missile launched from pro-Russian separatist-controlled territory in the Ukraine. The missile was fired by a missile brigade of the Russian Federation. It had been transported from Russia on the day of the crash, was fired from a rebel-controlled area of Ukraine, and then returned to Russia after the firing.

The investigation’s findings also agreed with the Ukrainian government’s claims and the information from American and German intelligence sources.

Australia and the Netherlands pursued legal remedies in May 2018. The Russian government denied any involvement in the downing of the aircraft.

In November 2022, as the result of an in absentia trial in the Netherlands, two Russians and a Ukranian separatist were found guilty of murdering 298 people aboard flight MH17.

2PAXfly Takeout

Successive Australian Foreign Ministers have fought for the rights of the Australian victims’ families. Those foreign ministers have included Penny Wong and Julie Bishop. It prompted former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to promise to ‘shirt-front’ Vladimir Putin.

This is a very sad commemorative day for Australians and all the families and friends of the passengers and crew who were murdered by Russian military equipment under the control of Russian Federation forces.

Our thoughts are with the friends and families of the victims.

If you want more information on this tragic episode in airline history, have a read of the Wikipedia entry.