Dutch experts say Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 broke up in mid-air after being hit by “numerous objects” that “pierced the plane at high speed,” the BBC reports.
A report released by the Dutch Safety Board said there was “no evidence of technical or human error”.
All 298 people on board died when the plane came down, amid reports it was shot down by pro-Russian rebels.
The plane was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it crashed in eastern Ukraine.
Dutch aviation investigators relied on information from the black box flight data recorders, air traffic control, satellite images and photos from the scene to compile the preliminary report.
They said the plane “broke up in the air probably as a result of structural damage caused by a large number of high-speed objects that penetrated the aircraft from outside.”
The cockpit voice recorder revealed no signs of any technical faults or an emergency situation, the experts said.
This is not the final report into the crash. It does not attribute blame or liability for the crash but a separate criminal investigation is being conducted by prosecutors in The Hague.
Experts from the UK, Germany, Australia, Malaysia, the US, Ukraine and Russia are collaborating on the case.
The board says it expects the final report to be published within a year.
