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Large BUK missile part found at MH17 crash site.

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BUK missile part "venturi" found at MH17 crash site in eastern Ukrain (Photo: Joint Investigation Team)

The MH17 investigation team found the “exhaust” of a BUK missile at the site of the crash in eastern Ukraine, the Joint Investigation Team revealed on Monday in an online magazine on the investigation into the disaster.

The missile part is a so-called Venturi. It is located on the bottom of a BUK missile and the gasses that propel the missile are released through it.

This is the first time it’s been revealed that such a large part of a BUK missile was found at the site where the Malaysian Airlines plane crashed on July 17th, 2014. All 298 people on board were killed, including 196 Dutch.

The magazine also gave insight into other aspects of the criminal investigation into the disaster, including the forensic investigation, the collection of ground samples and requests for mutual assistance. For example, the magazine reveals that small pieces of metal found in some of the victims’ bodies provided the first breakthrough. The metal showed traces zirconium, which is used only in cockpit glass. This indicated that the metal pieces came from outside, through the cockpit glass.

It was also revealed that the JIT investigation has been delayed for several reasons. The team is still awaiting information from Russia about BUK missile systems. And in some cases the team met opposition in its inquiries, for example the separatists in Luhansk would not give the team permission to do technical research on phone masts in the area.

The Ministry of Security and Justice hopes to give more insight into the criminal investigation surrounding the MH17 disaster with this magazine, Fred Westerbeke, chief prosecutor and coordinator of the team, writes. “We get a lot of questions about it. Who is working on it? How is the cooperation between different countries?” He hopes that the magazine “gives a better picture of what is happening in the criminal investigation and the way we are working on getting the truth about the shooting down of MH17 on the table.”