Second plane carrying remains arrives
Planes carrying the remains of as many as 74 people lands a military base in Eindhoven, Netherlands. A lone bugler sounds the military farewell Last Post to mark the victims’ arrival, followed by a moment of silence.
Black boxes not tampered with
Investigators say they were damaged but find no evidence that the flight data recorders have been tampered with. The Dutch Safety Board states:
The Cockpit Voice Recorder was damaged but the part that contains the data was intact. Nor was there any evidence or indication that (it) had been manipulated.
They will now begin the process of analyzing the data downloaded from the recorders.
Planes with remains arrive in Netherlands
Two military aircraft carrying 40 bodies arrive in the Dutch city of Eindhoven shortly before 4 p.m. (10 a.m. ET). A lone bugler was there, and a moment of silence was held across the country. Families of the victims and Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima are there when the planes arrive.
Black boxes delivered to UK
The two flight recorders are delivered to Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) headquarters in London. A Department for Transport spokeswoman tells AFP:
We can confirm that the two black boxes from MH17 have been delivered by the Dutch Safety Board to the Air Accidents Investigation Branch at Farnborough for download.
AAIB expects to send the details of their findings to the Dutch government in approximately 24 hours. Ukraine’s government says the black boxes were transferred to Britain under the observation of the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organisation and that the vital data recorders were flown out of Kiev following an agreement between Malaysian, Dutch and Ukrainian officials and representatives from the ICAO:
Under the protocol it was determined that the objects called ‘black boxes’ were presented to the Ukrainian side but the Ukrainian side did not get involved with them and these objects did not remain under Ukrainian control for even one minute
No Russian government link
Three senior U.S. intelligence officials state that no direct link to the Russian government and the shooting down of the jet has been found. They believe the pro-Russian separatists are responsible, but they have no evidence to prove this. One official says:
There’s not going to be a Perry Mason moment. We don’t know who pulled the trigger.
Body train arrives at base
The train carrying as many as 298 remains of the victims of flight MH17 arrives at an army base in Ukraine today. The remains will be unloaded and put on a plane to be flown to Netherlands.
Dutch forensics team arrives
Dutch forensics experts, accompanied by representatives of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), arrive at the crash site. Wearing shirts bearing the insignia of the forensics unit of the Dutch national police and latex gloves and masks they conduct an inspection of bodies that lay in black bags piled on to three rail cars. Ukrainian Prime Minister, Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, says pro-Russian rebels who control the area are preventing the trains from leaving.
Airline: $5,000 to victims’ families
Malaysia Airlines announces it will pay $5,000 to each victim’s family to “ease the immediate families of the passengers with their economic needs.” This payment will not be offset against any final compensation or affect families’ legal rights to any future claim. The airline says:
Funds have already been made available for this purpose.
Airline offers refunds
Malaysia Airlines announces it will offer full refunds to any passengers who wish to cancel their reservations. They are also waiving any fees involved for customers wanting to change their travel plans, including tickets specified as non-refundable. This is in response to the two recent incidents involving their planes, flights MH370 and MH17.
Our Enrich passengers will also receive fee waivers for any changes to their travel itinerary, as well as refunds of miles should they choose to cancel their redemption tickets.
This waiver is applicable for any travel booked between July 18th and December 31st of this year. The airline has already suffered losses amounting to $1.3 billion over the previous three years, before the tragedies occurred.
Flight number MH17 retired
In a statement from Malaysia Airlines, the company says out of respect for the passengers and crew who died when the plane was shot down the flight number MH17 will be retired next week. The new flight number for the planes that fly that route will be MH19. They add
Our thoughts and prayers remains with the families of our colleagues and passengers of MH 17.
Rebels find black boxes
Alexander Borodai, a Ukraine rebel leader, says the black boxes have been found at the crash site and will be handed over to the International Civil Aviation Organization.
Black box found at crash site
Reuters news agency releases a video showing what appears to be a rescue worker holding up an in-flight recorder, often referred to as a black box, at the crash site. The agency labels the video as being of one of the two flight data recorders from flight MH17. Reuters says the video was taken two days ago. It is unclear who is in possession of the black box at this time. The data contained in the black box will be crucial in determining what happened on the plane moments before it was shot down.
Dutch PM asks Putin to use his power
With almost two-thirds of the people killed in the crash of flight MH17 being Dutch, the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, urges President Vladimir Putin to use his power to influence the rebels to allow full access to the crash site. In a press briefing he says:
I want to see results in the form of unimpeded access and rapid recovery. This is now priority number one.
Observers denied full access to crash site
For the second day in a row, international observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are denied total access to the crash site by armed separatists. The team of monitors is only allowed to see one part of the large area containing wreckage and human remains. Alexander Hug, the chief of the OSCE special monitoring mission to Ukraine, says today the team is allowed “to see a bit more” of the sprawling crash site. President Petro Poroshenko says in a statement that he will “not tolerate interference” with the work of international investigators.
Malaysia Airlines releases manifest
The airline releases the full list of passengers and crew members that were aboard flight MH17 when it was shot down. The airline appeals to family and friends of the victims to contact them in an effort to find next of kin. A spokesman says Malaysia Airlines is assessing security in Ukraine before making a decision about possibly flying next of kin to the country where 298 passengers and crew lost their lives. He says family members are being cared for in Amsterdam while a team from the airline, including security officials, is on the ground in Ukraine. He said the team was trying to travel “500 kilometers (310 miles) through difficult territory” to reach the area where wreckage of the Boeing 777 landed. The full manifest is listed here.
Airline releases nationalities of passengers
Although the passenger list is not being released at this time, Malaysia Airlines releases a breakdown of the nationalities of the passengers on board flight MH17. At least 189 were Dutch, 28 were Australians, 28 were Malaysians, 12 were Indonesian, 9 were from the United Kingdom, 4 were from Germany, 4 were from Belgium, 3 were from the Philippines, 1 was Canadian and 1 was from Hong Kong. Authorities are still trying to determine the nationalities of the other passengers.
Access to crash site is limited
A group of 21 international monitors is allowed only limited access to the crash site. Michael Bociurkiw, spokesman for Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, says the group was not given the access they expected. He tells CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that the group was “only allowed access to about a 200-meter strip” for about 75 minutes at the site, which he says was guarded by armed men in uniform:
One of our top priorities was to find out what happened to the black boxes. No one was there to answer those questions.