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New video claims to show MH17 site moments after plane crash

e-News® | The NEWS Company… : A new video posted online purports to show the flaming wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 just moments after it crashed in eastern Ukraine.

Lasting one minute and 20 seconds, the video is titled “The first minutes after the fall of the Malaysian Boeing [Video witnesses],” according to an online translation. It shows black smoke billowing up, and wreckage strewn around what appears to be Hrabove, a typically sleepy village roughly 50 miles from the pro-Russian rebel stronghold of Donetsk.

In the grisly scene, distraught locals are seen frantically collecting water to put out the flames, while others are heard inquiring as to the whereabouts of the pilot. One man tells another that “a body fell through the roof.” Another, at 41 seconds into the video, can be heard saying “a rocket was fired.” His account would seem to support the well-established theory of Kiev and the West that the airliner was shot down by an SA-11 surface-to-air missile system — better known as a Buk — fired by the rebels.

MH17 was downed on July 17, killing all 298 people on board. While Kiev and the West accuse pro-Russian rebels of firing on the plane, Moscow blames Ukrainian fighter jets. The West also accuses Russia of funneling sophisticated weapons systems into eastern Ukraine.

The crash site has also been a source of controversy. Local emergency services only recently began removing the plane’s wreckage over concerns for the safety of workers in eastern Ukraine’s rebel-held conflict zone.

A Russian state-controlled television outlet aired on Friday photos that it says show a fighter jet firing a missile at a passenger plane, evidence that would back Russia’s claims that MH17 was downed by Ukrainian fighter jets, according to Reuters. However, the photos have garnered plenty of skepticism, with the Ukrainian government reportedly concluding that they were forgeries after only 30 minutes of analysis.

The photos were released just before Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared at the G20 summit in Brisbane, Australia. Putin has received a torrent of criticism over Russia’s actions in Ukraine. He ended up leaving the summit early to “catch up on sleep,” The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The Associated Press uploaded an extended version of the video, embedded, below:

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Rajowan Syed

Rajowan Syed

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