Was Australian MH17 passenger conscious after the plane was hit by a missile? Official reveals body recovered from crash site was wearing an oxygen mask
- Dutch official Wim de Bruin confirmed an Australian was wearing the mask around his neck when the body was recovered
- Mr de Bruin is a spokesman for the Dutch National Prosecutor's Office - the agency responsible for the investigation into the crash
- The revelation comes as Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans revealed that a passenger aboard MH17 was found wearing an oxygen mask
- He said during a talk-show interview on Dutch television that 'someone was found with an oxygen mask over his mouth'
- He has since apologised to the victim's families for the comments
- It sparked calls from some of the families of the 298 dead about who it was wearing the mask
- Mr Timmermans was applauded for a speech he made days after the crash at the UN Security Council
- Experts investigating the crash said everyone on board was most likely killed immediately or, if not, became unconscious within seconds
An Australian body recovered from the Malaysia Airlines MH17 wreckage site had an oxygen mask wrapped around his neck, a Dutch prosecutor has claimed.
Wim de Bruin, a spokesman for the Dutch agency investigating the incident, has informed the passenger's relatives that a mask was discovered around his neck but officials are yet to release the Australian's name.
He said it was not clear from forensic testing when the mask was applied to the man's face, but its discovery has raised questions that he was conscious after the plane was hit by a missile on July 17 over east Ukraine near the Russian border.
Wreckage of flight MH17 is strewn across a field in eastern Ukraine
A body recovered near the wreckage was apparently wearing an oxygen mask, according to a Dutch official
Mr De Bruin said Dutch forensic experts investigated the mask 'for fingerprints, saliva and DNA,' but it did not produce any results.
It comes as Holland's Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans apologised to the families of MH17 victims for revealing that a passenger was wearing a mask on live TV.
It resulted in a flood of phone calls to investigators from the relatives of the 298 passengers and crew who perished, including 38 Australians, seeking more information about the passenger.
Mr Timmermans had asked talk-show host Jeroen Pauw whether he was aware that a passenger was wearing a mask on the flight when he said: 'Did you know that someone was found with an oxygen mask over his mouth?'
But he apologised on Thursday, saying: 'I have an enormous amount of sympathy for the next-of-kin,' he said. 'The last thing I want to do is compound their suffering in this way,' The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The Dutch Foreign Minister received international acclaim for a speech he made days after the incident.
He suggested that the discovery of the oxygen mask-wearing passenger revealed that at least one person was conscious when the plane was hit by a missile fired by Russian-backed rebels.
He also added during the interview that it was unlikely that any of the 298 passengers and crew on board saw the missile approaching.
'No, they did not see the missile coming, but did you know that someone was found with an oxygen mask over his mouth? So someone had the time to to do that,' he said.
There was no evidence to conclude that the final moments could not have been as described in his speech at the UN - when he played through scenarios of passengers on the plane.
Mr Timmermans was speaking to talk-show host when he asked: 'Did you know that someone was found with an oxygen mask over his mouth?'
The BUK missile launcher which was suspected of brining down the ill-fated airline
A convoy of hearses bearing remains of the victims of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crash
Bodies found and wrapped at the crash site as investigators sweep through the wreckage
An Australian, it has been revealed, was the person wearing an oxygen mask when the plane went down
298 people were killed when the plane crashed over pro-Russian held territory in eastern Ukraien
'I've been thinking how horrible the final moments of their lives must have been, when they knew the plane was going down,' Mr Timmermans told the UN.
'Did they lock hands with their loved ones, did they hold their children close to their hearts, did they look each other in the eyes, one final time, in a wordless goodbye? We will never know.'
Experts investigating the crash said everyone on board was most likely killed immediately or, if not, became unconscious within seconds.
A preliminary report published by the Dutch Safety Board revealed puncture holes in the wreckage suggested small objects penetrated the plane through the cockpit.
It was also revealed that holes were found on the cockpit floor and damage to the body was consistent with 'high-energy objects' piercing it from the outside.
Forensic experts have so far been unable to recover all bodies from the crash site.
About 228 coffins have been flown back to the Netherlands for identification, but some of the coffins contained only partial remains.
It is unknown how many bodies remain unaccounted for and only 262 victims have been identified so far.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak speaks at a news conference announcing that two black boxes had been recovered after the crash
People stand near part of the wreckage of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane after it crashed near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region
An emergencies ministry member walks at a site of where Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crashed
A Malaysian air crash investigator inspects the crash site
Parts of the burnt-out wreckage at where the plane went down over eastern Ukraine
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
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