Chilling animation shows how MH17 was shot down with a Buk surface-to-air missile

Two years ago today, on July 17, 2014, 298 civilians from 11 countries perished when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine.

The Dutch Safety Board concluded in its October 2015 final report that MH17, traveling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was hit by a Buk surface-to-air missile fired from territory controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine.

"No scenario other than a Buk surface-to-air missile can explain this combination of facts," the report said.

"It was a Buk missile that hit the left upper part of the cockpit," a visibly shaken relative, Robby Oehlers, told reporters, just after being briefed by Dutch officials in The Hague, the AFP reports.

The warhead, fired from rebel-held eastern Ukraine, detonated to the left side and slightly above the cockpit, as shown in a video re-creation from the Dutch Safety Board. 

"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," the report said.

"Wreckage from the airplane was distributed over various sites within an area of 50 square kilometers. All 298 occupants were killed."

Here is the full video via the Dutch Safety Board (and here is the full report):

NOW WATCH: Investigators say flight MH17 was struck by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile

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