Missile 'Would Have Destroyed MH17 in Split Seconds'

The 298 passengers and crew on board the doomed flight MH17 would have been oblivious to what was happening as the missile struck the plane, according to a defence analyst.

The Buk SA-11 missile would have hit the plane at various points, igniting the fuel and taking out the engines and wings in less than a second. The passengers on board would have been unconscious almost instantly.

Explaining in graphic detail exactly what would have happened as the missile hit the plane, Justin Bronk, a researcher analyst at the Royal United Services Institute, told MailOnline:

“An SA-11 missile is designed to shred aircraft. The extent at which the remains of the aircraft are spread across a large area seems to confirm that.

“The missile is programmed using a tracker to get within a metre of the target then let off a ring of shrapnel, which will enter the aircraft at various points.

“The shrapnel will have hit the wings, the engines and the fuel tanks, igniting the fuel.

“A large aircraft like that is highly pressurised to allow humans to breathe at that altitude so it will have exploded instantly.

“Almost nobody on board would have known what was happening. If not instantly, they will have been unconscious within split seconds.”

The missile hit the plane with such force that local residents reported seeing bodies falling from the sky “like rags”. The bodies were strewn across fields, surrounded by thousands of possessions such as passports, children’s books, playing cards and letters. Makeshift white flags mark where the bodies lie, with some covered in plastic sheeting.

The Buk SA-11 missile was designed by the Soviet Union in 1979 to intercept aircraft and other missiles. It is programmed to explode within a few feet of its target, sending shrapnel flying into an enemy target and piercing at in multiple locations. It can reach altitudes of up to 75,000ft – much higher than the cruising altitude of MH17.

Pro-Russian Ukrainian separatists are facing increasing blame for the incident, with Downing Street last night issuing a statement saying it appears “increasingly likely that MH-17 was shot down by a separatist missile”.