THE HAGUE: Witnesses have uploaded 150 photos and videos to a Dutch police server set up to help piece together the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over east Ukraine, a spokeswoman said.
The police issued an online appeal last week for images of the crash site – before, during and after – to aid a reconstruction of events.
From the server opening last Friday evening to noon on Monday, 150 images were uploaded via portals in four different languages: Dutch, English, Russian and Ukrainian, spokeswoman Franki Klarenbeek told AFP.
And more are coming in.
“We don’t know yet where the images are from, but we do know they were uploaded via all four language portals,” said Klarenbeek.
The online appeal had been “aimed specifically at people in the disaster zone“, according to the website.
The plane with 298 people on board came down on July 17 in an area of east Ukraine where pro-Russian separatists are battling government forces.
The Netherlands, which is leading the crash probe and body identification, lost 193 citizens on the flight.
Washington alleges the flight was downed by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile fired by pro-Moscow militants.
On Monday, Kiev said data from the doomed plane’s black boxes showed the crash was caused by shrapnel from a rocket explosion.
Russia has denied the Western accusations, and rebel commander Igor Strelkov has said his side did not have anything to do with the MH17 disaster.
Several investigations are under way to determine what caused the crash, who is to blame, and whether any prosecution will follow for what the UN has said may amount to a war crime.
-- AFP