In The National Interest
Page 14
With the task completed, the crew of the BUK launch vehicle packed up and swiftly retraced their way back into the safety of Russian Territory.
Chapter 64
Curt Joyner and Kim Doh settled in their seats. The last passengers to board, they believed they were safe after the door closed and the aircraft manoeuvred onto the taxiway.
The Malaysian flight went “Wheels up” at 12:15 PM Local Time ascending into the night sky toward its’ intended altitude of thirty-three thousand feet. The assigned route would take them over the warring armies of Ukraine and the rebels backed by Russia, who wished to separate into the Russian Federation. One hundred and sixty flights had passed across this area without incident in the preceding hours. Three other airliners were in transit on the same heading albeit at different heights at that time.
The Malaysian aircraft was entering into Ukraine territory. The meal had been served and empty trays cleared when Curt turned to Kim and said, “Do you remember the ball in Austria?”
She looked at him quizzically before speaking. “You're not trying to back out now, are you?”
“On the contrary, I just wanted to confirm you have`nt come to your senses and declined my proposal.
“If your feelings for me are the same mine concerning you, then please accept this token of my love,” with which he produced a modest red velvet box and presented it to her.
Kim burst into tears. Weeping she asked, “When did you manage to buy this?”
“In Amsterdam, from a very gracious Jewish gentleman,” he replied while kissing her cheek.
A flight attendant noticing their intimate exchange, congratulated them both and suggested a bottle of champagne was in order. They nodded in agreement.
She hurried away smiling, returning promptly with a magnum of Verve Clique and two glass flutes in hand.
As the flight attendant deftly removed the cork a tremendous explosion rocked the aircraft.
Red-hot schrapnel tore through the cockpit, embedding themselves into the bodies of the pilot and co-pilot killing them instantaneously, and tearing the aluminium structure of the aeroplane asunder.
Those in First Class died instantly, as the pressurized fuselage blew itself into three pieces.
The explosion ripped apart both passengers and luggage as they were flung violently into the maelstrom of the 500 knot freezing air.
From thirty-three thousand feet, speed and air resistance on the different parts ensured the wreckage and carnage fell to earth over a wide area
A certain laptop computer disintegrated on impacting the ground, but a light USB Stick spiralled down through the cold air before landing intact beside a child’s red shoe.
There was yet flaming portions when the military separatists and locals descended on the site, some to give aid and others to loot.
A 10-year-old boy from the village nearby scoured through the wreckage looking for something saleable. He was especially seeking electronics, they would bring good money for a Ukrainian lad from a poor family.
He gathered up cell phones and computers and espied a USB stick. He scooped it up and placed it in his pocket.
One week later the blond ten-year-old boy stepped from the train at Debal’tseve, the university town on the border of the Donetsk-Oblast region of Ukraine. He struggled with an enormous blue, pink and white plastic bag. Ten minutes afterwards he entered a shop advertising Computers for Sale, new and used. He emerged shortly after with eleven hundred and twenty hryvnia (about $40 US ) in his pocket. A large amount for an impoverished rural lad.
Chapter 65
The disaster made headline coverage around the world. There was outrage in the western news media. The blame for the catastrophe attributed to Russia.
The following day, Investigators from The Netherlands and Australia hastily assembled to attend the crash site. It would establish the circumstances surrounding the downing of the aircraft.
Unfortunately, the wreckage lay in the middle of an active conflict zone.
They had to wait until the warring parties agreed to give the inspectors access, causing further delays.
Meanwhile accusations and innuendo were rampant, the national leaders from the Western Hemisphere charging Russia with the atrocity.
They in turn countered by saying the airliner was shot down by a Ukrainian Warplane.
It would be the evidence determining the facts.
Separatist fighters were the first on site and loaded many of the victims into body-bags before transporting them on a train to Kharkiv.
The investigating team from Holland and Australia duly arrived on site under heavy military escort and gathered the human remains for shipment back to Eindhoven. The funeral cortège was more than a mile long, that wound its way from the airport.
The coffins draped with the flags of the victims countries, drove past the citizens of Holland who lined the route to express their grief and respect for the casualties.
The remains of the passengers and crew were transported to the Netherlands Army Medical facility in Hilversum for forensic testing and identification.In mid November the work to recover the numerous pieces of the airliner was underway. Headed by the Dutch Ministry of Defence, the consortium of International inspectors considered the site to be unsafe to do their examination. The components were relocated to a hanger in Holland, a frame constructed, and the fuselage was painstakingly assembled.
In August parts of a BUK missile were recovered.
The Dutch initiated two parallel investigations, one to establish the technical aspects of the airframe breakup, the other a separate criminal enquiry conducted by the police.In October 2015 after extensive examination of the fuselage and engine parts, the mechanical report was published. There were no malfunctions found with the aircraft.
The conclusion was that Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 was bought down by a Russian made 9M38 BUK missile fired from a rebel-controlled field near Pervomaisky, a town 6 kilometres from Snizhne in Eastern Ukraine.
The report also established the vehicle which had launched the projectile, had been transported to the site on the day of the crash before being immediately returned to Russia.
The criminal inquiry judged three Russians and one Ukrainian guilty of murder in absentia. None faced trial.
Several countries and International Organizations supported the tribunals findings.
The Australian Prime Minister, in using a football term, threatened to “shirt front” Vladimir Putin when he attended the G20 conference in Brisbane Australia. The Russian President was unmoved in his denials.
Strangely, the Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed would not condemn nor apportion blame to President Putin for the attack. With the knowledge he possessed, he stated the accident may have been perpetrated by others. The Western Media accused him of being a conspiracy theorist.
The United States, meanwhile, offered technical and moral support, but remained officially distanced from the outrage.
The ashes of Curt Joyner and Kim Doh were presented to the relatives by their departmental heads for internment and the names added to the Honour Roll.
As nobody was aware of the engagement, they were buried ten thousand miles apart. The diamond ring on her finger was never found.
Julie Jorgensen put the dilapidated mobile and the reports registered by Curt Joyner into a box file.
She marked the container appropriately noting the aircraft type, registration 9M-MRO and investigating officer, placing the evidence box in the section for “Investigation On-going”. She had yet to analyse the information on the cell phone.
On a whim she decided to play the taped recording.
Chapter 66
Richard Battley stretched his back and placed his feet up on the wooden desk.as he reached for the freshly brewed coffee. Opening his copy of the Washington Post he scanned the newspaper until he found the article he wanted. “Malaysia Releases the Final Report into the missing aircraft MH370”
He read for ten minutes
. The judgement of the review established no mechanical problems contributed to the aeroplanes demise. The pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah was solely responsible, committing murder/suicide for a reason yet unknown. There was no reference to the two deceased investigators.
Satisfied that their would be no further enquiries, he tied a red tape around the dossier in front of him. He affixed it with red wax and applied a specific seal indicating “Never to be Opened”, He put the file into his safe where it would await transport to a hidden vault which held Americas` secrets.
At the same moment he shut the door, in a computer shop in Ukraine a chap pushed a USB stick into a laptop.
Richard Battley on no occasion dwelt on the actions forced upon him in doing his job. Like Josef Stalin, he considered the death of 100 a tragedy, the loss of a thousand, statistics.
He had decided to retire the next month. The pressure of his decisions taking it’s toll on his health, both physical and phycological. He was comfortable in the knowledge he had fulfilled his mandate to protect the Office of the Presidency in the national interest.
END