'Sickening' new footage emerges on anniversary of MH17 crash
One year after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over the Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board, new video emerged Friday which purportedly shows Russian-backed rebels ransacking the crash site.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said she couldn't verify the authenticity of the footage published by News Corp Australia on Friday, but described it as sickening.
"It is sickening to watch and 12 months on from the downing of MH17 it is deeply concerning that this footage has emerged now," Bishop said, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
In the video, a man can be heard speaking to someone on the phone about the smoldering wreckage of the downed jet.
"Keep the perimeter. Don't let civilians get through," an unidentified man says in the footage. Another voice is heard asking who gave the pilot the "right" to fly through the airspace. In a longer clip posted to YouTube, a man appears to rummage through the luggage and steal clothes from a passenger's backpack.
The footage was released on the day two separate ceremonies were held to mark the anniversary of the crash. Residents of the village where the plane came down processed to the crash site mournfully while the Australian prime minister dedicated a memorial plaque in Canberra.
It also comes one day after details of yet-to-be-released report leaked, claiming that evidence shows Russian-supported separatists fired the missile that brought the jet down.
The deputy head of the Russian Aviation Agency, Oleg Storchevoi, said Russia found "a lot to contradict" in the draft report on Thursday.
See photos of the MH17 crash site:
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