THE shock revelation by the Ukrainians on Monday that Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was brought down by a “massive explosive decompression” is in danger of blowing up into a Category One firestorm.
Central to the issue is the motive for the disclosure, which had been described as “premature” by stunned Dutch authorities. They have slammed Ukraine for releasing information “too early” and are at a loss as to how Kiev got the data.
Ukraine had, on Monday, said analysis of the data from the two black boxes, currently in Farnborough, the United Kingdom, showed that shrapnel, believed to have been from a missile, had brought down the Boeing 777-200ER, registration number 9M-MRD, on July 17 with the loss of all 298 lives on board.
Britain’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) was tasked with retrieving important data from the recovered flight recorders. The AAIB began downloading information from the black boxes on July 23. It was expected to announce its findings on Friday.
The two black boxes were handed by pro-Russian rebels to a Malaysian delegation after an agreement brokered by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak. They were then delivered by Dutch experts to the AAIB.
The New Straits Times spoke to an official sitting with the AAIB in the investigating team, who said the team was equally stunned by the Ukrainian revelation.
The source said this was more so as the analysis of the flight data and the cockpit voice recorders had not been concluded.
“I would say that we have covered more than 50 per cent of it, but we are not done with it yet.
“You have to ask the Dutch safety board if indeed the data was leaked from its side.”
The source added that another concern was that this disclosure by Ukraine was in clear and direct violation of the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) Annexe 13, which states that “no information from the black box can be released unless authorised”.
On Monday, Andriy Lysenko, spokesman for Ukraine’s Security Council, told a news conference that the fragments had come from “a rocket blast”.
The Dutch government entrusted to lead investigations into the MH17 tragedy has been religiously guarding details of its investigations, so much so that forensics experts carrying out investigation and identification of victims in Hilversum had limited contact with the outside world.
The Dutch Safety Board (DSB) has denied giving the information to Ukraine and said Lysenko’s source was now “under scrutiny”.
Its spokesman, Sara Vernooij, told the New Straits Times: “We don’t think it is in the best interest of the investigation to bring out fragmented pieces of information. We want to give a coherent view of the whole investigation by different sources (photo, satellite, radar, etc). I don’t know the source of information of the Ukrainian spokesman yesterday.”
DSB said on its Twitter account: “Flight recorders (of) MH17 can be used for investigation, content will only be published in coherence with other investigation information.”
A question was asked on the same thread about the air-to-ground transmission recordings between the pilots of MH17 and Ukraine air traffic controllers, as well as reports, which alleged that the Ukranian Security Service (SBU) had seized the ATC tapes.
“Why do you hide the recordings of talks between #MH17 and #Ukraine Air Controllers? Why has SBU confiscated the ATC tape,” asked Ariane Daladier @ArianeDaladier.
Further compounding things is the situation at the impact zone near Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, which has deteriorated in the last 48 hours. Heavy and sustained fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists has prevented investigators from getting close to the wreckage.
Ukrainian forces are advancing on Donetsk, the pro-Russian separatist capital, from the east and there is fighting close to the crash site near the town of Torez.
On Monday, the recovery team comprising 38 Dutch and 12 Australian experts heading for the MH17 crash site for the second time to investigate the area for the first time and search for remains and personal belongings was forced to turn back because of heavy fighting near the town of Shaktarsk.
“In consultation with the the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the team decided to return to Donetsk,” said Pieter Jaap Aalbersberg, head of the repatriation mission. It is learnt that the OSCE is attempting to facilitate access to the site by consulting with the parties in conflict.
A similar move on the diplomatic front is being spearheaded by Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans and his Australian counterpart, Julie Bishop. The two were in Kiev on Monday to this end.
In New York, a senior United Nations diplomat claims that the downing of MH17 could “amount to a war crime”.
Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, yesterday called for an immediate and wide-ranging investigation into the shoot-down.
“This violation of international law, given the prevailing circumstances, may amount to a war crime,” Pillay said.
The Red Cross has found that Ukraine is now embroiled in a civil war, a classification that would make parties in the conflict liable to prosecution for war crimes.