MH17 disaster: Victims 'would have died pretty quick' after blast

Updated

Investigators have found that 298 passengers on crew on board flight MH17 which was brought down by a Russian-made missile would have died very soon after it exploded, a grieving father has said.

Relatives have been briefed by the Dutch Safety Board about its findings into what happened to the Malaysia Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur Boeing 777 last July.

Ten of those who died in the disaster over rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine were British.

Barry Sweeney, whose 28-year-old son Liam was on board, told the BBC they were told a Russian-made Buk missile exploded, hitting the cockpit first, killing the pilots.

That would have caused disorientation and confusion in the rest of the plane, he said.

"Hopefully most people were unconscious by the time this happened and death would have occurred pretty quick," he said.

"That is a comfort for 298 sets of relatives."

Mr Sweeney's son was travelling from Newcastle with his friend John Alder to watch their beloved Newcastle United play in a pre-season tour of New Zealand.

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