Missile hit MH17 a metre from cockpit

The missile that downed Malaysia Airlines flight 17 exploded less than a metre from the cockpit, killing the crew inside instantly and breaking off the front of the plane, the Dutch Safety Board said as it presented the results of an official probe into the crash in eastern Ukraine.

It saId that the tragedy that killed all 298 people aboard the plane on July 17, 2014, would not have happened if anyone had thought to close the airspace of eastern Ukraine to passenger planes as fighting raged below.

The report did not consider who launched the missile. However, it identified an area of 320 sq km from which the launch must have taken place.