Wreckage of Flight MH17 Arrives in Netherlands

By Maarten van Tartwijk 

AMSTERDAM--The first pieces of wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 arrived in the Netherlands on Tuesday from Ukraine.

Two convoys of trucks arrived at the Gilze-Rijen military air base, and another two are scheduled to arrive later in the week.

The wreckage could provide more clues about the cause of the crash, and investigators will reconstruct parts of the Boeing Co. 777 jetliner. They have set up a research facility in one of the air base's hangars.

The Netherlands suffered the highest death toll in the July 17 disaster, and it is leading the international investigation into the crash and identification of the victims.

Flight 17 was most likely downed by a missile when it was traveling to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam, a catastrophe that killed all 298 people aboard and rained shards of aircraft and bodies across a remote conflict zone controlled by pro-Russia rebels.

Ukraine, the U.S. and other Western governments have said the rebels, who were armed with surface-to-air missiles, are responsible for the crash. Moscow, however, blames Ukraine.

The recovery of the wreckage had been delayed because of fighting between Ukrainian government forces and the separatist fighters. A train carrying the wreckage left the area on Nov. 23 for the government-controlled city of Kharkiv, where it was transferred to trucks that needed around a week to get to the Netherlands.

The Dutch Safety Board, the government body in charge of the crash investigation, in September issued an interim report that found high-energy objects struck the plane and caused it to break apart.

The final crash report is expected next summer.

Access Investor Kit for The Boeing Co.

Visit http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US0970231058

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires