DHAKA: Dutch experts say Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 broke up in mid-air after being hit by ‘numerous objects’ that ‘pierced the plane at high speed’.

A report released by the Dutch Safety Board said there was ‘no evidence of technical or human error’, reports the BBC.

All 298 people on board died when the plane came down, amid reports it was shot down by pro-Russian rebels.

The plane was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it crashed in eastern Ukraine.

Dutch aviation investigators relied on information from the black box flight data recorders, air traffic control, satellite images and photos from the scene to compile the preliminary report.

They said the plane ‘broke up in the air probably as the result of structural damage caused by a large number of high-speed objects that penetrated the aircraft from outside’.

The cockpit voice recorder revealed no signs of any technical faults or an emergency situation, the experts said.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 crashed between Krasni Luch in Luhansk region and Shakhtarsk in the region of Donetsk on 17 July.

BDST: 1425 HRS, SEP 09, 2014