Dutch experts to publish first report on crash of Malaysian airlines in Eastern Ukraine

Dutch experts are due to publish the first report into what caused the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 to crash in eastern Ukraine in July.  

The Dutch Safety Board is leading an international probe to try to piece together evidence on what happened.

All 298 people on board, most of them from the Netherlands, died when the plane came down, amid reports it was shot down by pro-Russian rebels.  

But the search for evidence has been hampered by heavy fighting in the area.  

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it crashed.  

Dutch aviation investigators are relying on information from the black box flight data recorders, air traffic control, satellite images and photos from the scene to compile the preliminary report. 

Experts from the UK, Germany, Australia, Malaysia, the US, Ukraine and Russia are collaborating on the case.  The board says it expects the final report to be published within a year.  

BBC