Downed MH17 aircraft nearly hit village in rebel-held eastern Ukraine, video shows
Footage taken by villagers shortly after downing also shows they thought the plane was a Ukrainian military aircraft that had been shot down
Four months after Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over rebel-held eastern Ukraine, a video has emerged that shows how close the burning passenger jet came to hitting village homes and suggests that residents first assumed it was a Ukrainian military plane that had been struck.
The amateur footage, filmed by a resident of the village of Hrabove, shows people reacting in alarm as wreckage blazes only a few metres away from their homes on the afternoon of July 17. The video is perhaps the first taken immediately after the plane came down.
The ultimate cause of the disaster is the subject of major diplomatic disputes. Ukraine and Western governments say Russia-backed separatist fighters fired the rockets that felled the plane, while state-run television in Moscow over the weekend produced evidence it claims places blame with Ukraine's air force.
All 298 people on board the Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were killed. Charred remains of the aircraft are scattered around fields over an area of 20 square kilometres.
Workers on Sunday began collecting debris from the crash site, under the supervision of Dutch investigators and officials from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. .