MH17 crash: Investigation focuses on '25 metal shards' (original) (raw)

Meanwhile, the boss of Emirates airlines has told the BBC that his firm would not have flown over Ukraine if it had been told that high-altitude missiles were in the area.

Sir Tim Clark said there was evidence that missiles had been on site for a number of weeks, but only some airlines - excluding Emirates - had been aware of this.

Sir Tim told BBC transport correspondent Richard Westcott that it was likely that every airline would have by-passed the danger zone if they had known.

Planes had been cleared to fly in the area as long as they stayed above a certain altitude, and a report this week highlighted the fact that three other large passenger jets were in the same area at roughly the same time as the Malaysian flight.

Sir Tim said: "Emirates did not know of that fact, and I don't think many others did. Had we known that, we would probably have reacted in a manner that would have seen a complete avoidance of Ukrainian airspace, probably as an industry."

British Airways was among several airlines that had been avoiding Ukraine for weeks. But in a recent BBC interview, the overall boss of the company, Willie Walsh, said that decision was based on information that was publicly available at the time.

Sir Tim is calling for an information "clearing house" to be set up, that can warn all airlines, quickly, if there are any new threats in an area.