Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 has immediate cause surface-to-air missile
Missile strike
At 16:20:03 local time (13:20:03 UTC), a Buk ground-to-air missile, which had been launched from an area southeast of the aircraft, detonated outside the airplane, just above and to the left of the cockpit.: 142–147  The blast and fragments of the missile severely damaged the cockpit and instantly killed three crew members in it.: 147–149, 139–141, 136  Evidence on the left engine intake ring and left wing tip suggests that the left wing and left engine had also picked up some shrapnel from the missile.: 60, 136  An explosive decompression occurred, tearing the forward section of the aircraft into pieces, causing the middle and rear sections to tear into three sections and depressurizing the cabin.: 150–152  The explosive decompression could have incapacitated most occupants of the aircraft before the crash, though investigators never ruled out the possibility that some were still conscious when the aircraft impacted the ground. Some occupants might have suffered serious injuries that contributed to their deaths before the crash.: 165  The aircraft fell rapidly and continued disintegrating before impacting the ground.: 54–55, 152–153
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