On Friday, July 17, families will commemorate the one-year anniversary of the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, which resulted in the deaths of all 298 people onboard.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 One-Year Anniversary

One year after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down in Ukraine airspace as it neared the Russian border, a new investigation suggests that the plane was shot out of the sky by pro-Russian rebels.

According to a new report, a Dutch accident investigation has found that evidence suggests the flight was taken down by pro-Russian rebels using a Buk missile, a Russian surface to air missile. The investigation report was recently drafted by the Dutch Safety Board, and an initial report was sent to the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing. The official report is scheduled to be released in October.

The investigation reportedly offers an explanation for why the Malaysia Airlines flight was flying over a war zone – that other airlines were avoiding – saying that Malaysia Airlines simply did not check other countries’ warnings and did not know that most airlines had changed routes to avoid the Ukraine/Russian airspace.

While the Dutch investigate what happened to flight MH17, an independent criminal investigation is also underway and families of those who died in the crash await answers.

Dutch missions to retrieve and identify remains from the crash have successfully identified remains belonging to all but two people killed in the crash. As the recovery missions continue, sometimes families who have already buried partial remains receive more later, presenting grieving families with a dilemma: “We don’t know what to do. It’s very difficult to take the decision to open the grave to add pieces of bone,” revealed Evert van Zijtveld, who buried partial remains of his son and daughter in December.

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