{"id":123952,"date":"2015-10-14T21:33:51","date_gmt":"2015-10-14T11:33:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=123952"},"modified":"2020-11-10T13:48:33","modified_gmt":"2020-11-10T03:48:33","slug":"missile-shot-down-boeing-777","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2015\/10\/14\/missile-shot-down-boeing-777\/","title":{"rendered":"Missile Shot Down Boeing 777"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sr Philomene Tiernan … on board Malaysian flight
(Photo: Julia Charles)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

October 15, 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Dutch Safety Board has confirmed that a Russian-made missile shot down Flight MH17, the Malaysian Airlines aircraft on which Australian nun Sr Philomene Tiernan died.<\/p>\n

The Murgon-born nun was returning home from a European holiday – and the Patrick Tiernan Memorial ceremony at Dodewaard – when the Boeing 777 crashed in eastern Ukraine.<\/p>\n

All 298 people on board, including 38 Australians, were killed.<\/p>\n

The Dutch Safety Board said a 9N314M warhead carried by a 9M38 series missile, launched by a Russian-built BUK surface-to-air missile system, exploded near the left side of the cockpit, instantly killing the pilot and aircrew inside.<\/p>\n

They said distinctive fragments of metal were recovered from their bodies.<\/p>\n

However, the Safety Board did not say who fired the missile.<\/p>\n

The explosion caused the front section of the aircraft to separate from the rest of the fuselage. Wreckage of the plane was spread over six sites on the ground.<\/p>\n

Three other airliners were flying near Malaysia Airlines when the incident happened as the airspace had not been closed to civil aviation.<\/p>\n

The Russian Government has disputed the findings.<\/p>\n

After initially claiming a Ukrainian aircraft shot down the Boeing 777, a Russian official said on Wednesday that if it was a surface-to-air missile, it was an older model no longer used by the Russian military.<\/p>\n

It accused the Dutch Safety Board of an “obvious attempt to draw a biased conclusion and carry out political orders”.<\/p>\n

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