MH17 next of kin visit Dutch air base to view wreckage of downed flight

Journalists take images of parts of the wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 displayed in a hangar at Gilze Rijen airbase, Netherlands, Tuesday, March 3, 2015. The plane was brought down over conflict-torn eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014 and Dutch investigators are still probing the cause of the crash that killed all 298 people on board. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) (The Associated Press)

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Dutch military police stands next to parts of the wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, displayed in a hangar at Gilze-Rijen airbase, Netherlands, Tuesday, March 3, 2015. The plane was brought down over conflict-torn eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014 and Dutch investigators are still probing the cause of the crash that killed all 298 people on board. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) (The Associated Press)

GILZE-RIJEN AIR BASE, Netherlands – Relatives of people killed when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was downed over eastern Ukraine last year have visited a Dutch air base to view wreckage of the plane.

For almost all the relatives, it was the first chance to see the twisted and in some cases charred wreckage that for months lay in fields in conflict-torn eastern Ukraine where it plunged to the ground July 17, most likely after being hit by a missile. All 298 passengers and crew on board died.

The wreckage was brought back to the Netherlands where civil and criminal investigations are underway to establish the cause of the disaster and attempt to prosecute those responsible.

Family members who visited Tuesday didn't speak to the media at the Gilze-Rijen military air base in the southern Netherlands.