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Malaysia Airlines Flight 17

In 2014, Magnum photographer Jerome Sessini was one of the first people to arrive at the scene of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash in the Ukraine; his photos document the tragedy

Jérôme Sessini

Jérôme Sessini The remains and the corpses of the passengers of the Malaysian Airlines plane MH17 crashed down over Ukraine. Torez, Ukraine. July 17, 2014. © Jérôme Sessini | Magnum Photos

Jerome Sessini has been covering the conflict between the Ukrainian Government and pro-Russian separatist rebels near the eastern border with Russia. Once he’d found out that a civilian passenger airliner had gone down in the region, Sessini made his way to the crash site.

 

Jérôme Sessini The remains and the corps of the passengers of the Malaysian Airlines plane MH17 crashed over Ukraine. Torez, Ukraine. July 17, 2014. © Jérôme Sessini | Magnum Photos
Jérôme Sessini Firefighters at the place of the crash.The remains and the corpses of the passengers of the Malaysian Airlines plane MH17, which crashed over Ukraine. Torez, Ukraine. July 17, 2014. © Jérôme Sessini | Magnum Photos

The Ukrainian military had recently launched a new offensive to regain control over rebel-held territory, which involved use of air-strikes. Prior to July 17th commercial aviation authorities had advised carriers to use routes that would bypass the conflict zone.

Jérôme Sessini The personal effects of passengers on the flight MH17 scattered at the scene of plane crash. Corpses and remains of the plane are found in a radius of aproximately 10 kms. Rozsypne, Ukraine. July (...)
Jérôme Sessini Site of the crash of Malaysian airlines plane MH17. Corpses of passengers and remains of the plane are found in a radius of approximately 10 kms. Rozsypne, Ukraine. July 18, 2014. Miners and res (...)

On July 14th rebels shot down a Ukrainian Air Force transport, killing all 49 military personnel aboard and only hours before Flight 17 was destroyed, a Ukrainian fighter jet had been shot down. The Ukrainian government claims that the Russian military were directly involved in the latter incident.

Jérôme Sessini Igor Tiponov, 26, outside the room where the corpse of a passenger went through the roof of the bedroom. Site of the crash of Malaysian airlines plane MH17. Corpses of passengers and remains of the (...)
Jérôme Sessini Personal effects of the passengers. Rozsypne, Ukraine. July 18, 2014. © Jérôme Sessini | Magnum Photos
Jérôme Sessini A dog that was onboard the MH17 flight. Rozsypne, Ukraine. July 18, 2014. © Jérôme Sessini | Magnum Photos
Jérôme Sessini Separatist fighters at the place of the crash look at the remains and the corpses of the passengers of the Malaysian Airlines flight shot over Ukraine. Torez, Ukraine. July 17, 2014. © Jérôme Sessini | Magnum Photos
Jérôme Sessini Site of the crash of Malaysian airlines plane MH17. Corpses of passengers and remains of the plane are found in a radius of approximately 10 kms. Rozsypne, Ukraine. July 18, 2014. © Jérôme Sessini | Magnum Photos
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