MH17 crash report: Dutch investigators say plane was downed by Russian-made Buk missile - as it happened

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The final report into what caused the downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine in July last year was released today by the Dutch Safety Board (DSB).

A total of 298 people, including 10 Britons, were killed when the Malaysia Airlines Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur Boeing 777 was shot down over an area of eastern Ukraine held by separatist rebels.

Today's report did not deal with “blame or liability”, which is the responsibility of an ongoing criminal inquiry by the Dutch national prosecutor's office.

The DSB focused on the cause of the crash and examined why Dutch relatives had to wait for up to four days for confirmation that their loved ones had died, and to what extent the passengers were conscious before the plane hit the ground.

Tjibbe Joustra, the chairman of the investigating team, informed the victims' relatives in The Hague, before he gave a presentation to the media at Gilze-Rijen air base in southern Holland.

In its preliminary report, the DSB said the black box information showed the MH17 flight proceeded normally until 1.20pm local time on July 17, 2014 after which all recordings “ended abruptly”.

Additional reporting by PA