It’s been ten years since Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, killing everyone on board.
Warning: This article includes details about human remains and a disaster that killed hundreds of people.
Flight MH17, a Boeing 777 aircraft, was shot down on July 17, 2014. The crash killed 298 passengers, including 38 Australian citizens or residents.
Today Australians gathered at Parliament House to honour the people who died in the tragedy.
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Former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said, “It is shocking to think that on that day, 10 years ago, Australia found itself at the fulcrum of the Russian-Ukraine conflict that continues to this day.”
“We will not be deterred in our commitment to hold Russia to account,” she said.
A global investigation into the cause of the crash was formally suspended in 2023 as experts said the investigation had “reached its limits”.
In 2014, a team of Australian forensic experts were flown to Ukraine to help identify victims.
Professor David Ransome was one of these experts and described it as a large-scale investigation.
Professor David Ransome spoke on Crime Insiders about what the investigation revealed:
“Reports indicate the plane was hit by effectively hit by a missile,” Ransome said, “There were a number of locations at which there were remains and airport aircraft debris and property, luggage.”
Ransome said it took weeks for fingerprint experts, forensic odontologists and DNA experts to preserve remains and evidence.
“Each examination line would have each of those specialists working at a little station,” he said.
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