WATCH ABOVE: Debris seen raining down in amateur video of Malaysian airliner crash.
TORONTO – Though there are reports that a missile shot down a Malaysian flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lampur on Thursday, airplane experts believe that it will take time to determine the exact cause.
On Thursday, a Ukrainian official said that a Malaysian passenger plane was shot down over the country’s eastern region. There has been no official confirmation from the Malaysian defence minister about the reports.
However, there are several videos that show smoke wafting up from the Ukrainian countryside, including one that shows debris falling from the sky.
Photos of the purported wreckage of the plane were posted on social media sites.
READ MORE: A look at airliners that have been shot down
But former National Transportation Safety Board investigator Greg Feith said that it’s too early to say for certain that a missile was behind the plane’s destruction.
“There are tell-tale signs that investigators look for,” Feith said. “If there’s a long debris field over a wide area, that could indicate that there was some sort of catastrophic reason…whether that was due to a missile strike or something aboard the aircraft or loss of control of the airplane…that is yet to be determined.”
Feith said that it will likely be months for investigators to get a full picture of what happened.
“Investigators may have early indications,” he said. “But they’re going to be trying to develop a back story.”
This will help investigators determine the timeframe and exact circumstances of what brought down Flight MH17.
Scott Hamilton, managing director of aviation consultancy company Leeham Co. also said that it is too early to determine the cause of the crash.
“Right now, it’s smoke from the distance,” he said. “We just don’t know at this point.”
This past March, Malaysian Flight 370 went missing while en route from Kuala Lampur to Bejing, China. No wreckage was ever found, and the investigation is ongoing.
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