The relatives of those killed when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was downed over eastern Ukraine visited a Dutch air base Tuesday to view the wreckage of the plane . For almost all of them , it was the first chance to see the twisted and charred wreckage that lay for months in the fields of war-torn eastern Ukraine after the plane plunged to the ground July 17 , most likely after being hit by a missile . All 298 passengers and crew on board the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were killed . 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 . Scroll down for video . Journalists take images of parts of the wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 displayed in a hangar at Gilze Rijen airbase , Netherlands . Friends and family of the victims of the MH17 plane take pictures of the wreckage , laid out in front of them . Media and relatives look at a jumble of twisted wreckage from behind a rope . The display included charred remains of the Boeing aircraft 's jet engines . Dutch military police stands next to parts of the wreckage . The plane was brought down over conflict-torn eastern Ukraine on July 17 . Dutch investigators are still probing the cause of the crash that killed all 298 people on board . National Prosecutor 's Office spokesman Wim de Bruin said the criminal investigation is 'of an unprecedented scale ' and will take at least this year to complete . Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 takes off at 12.31 PM from Schiphol airport near Amsterdam , the Netherlands , on July 17 , 2014 . Family members who viewed the wreckage at the Gilze-Rijen military air base in the southern Netherlands did n't speak to the media Tuesday . More family members were to visit later this week , some 500 people in all . The wreckage , spread across three hangars , included wings , wheels , parts of the fuselage and overhead luggage bins . Some of it was scorched black by fire , while some pieces of the plane 's thin metal body were scratched , twisted and torn . Not visible to the media were parts of the plane that investigators said last year appeared 'to indicate that the aircraft was penetrated by a large number of high-energy objects from outside the aircraft ' . Experts will soon begin piecing together parts of the plane to help investigators assess the damage and definitively establish the cause , said Sara Vernooij , a spokeswoman for the Dutch Safety Board , which is leading the civilian probe . She said the board 's final report is expected 'after the summer . ' Not visible to the media were parts of the plane that investigators said last year appeared 'to indicate that the aircraft was penetrated by a large number of high-energy objects from outside the aircraft ' A note reading 'NG part IR unknown ' is attached to a piece of metal amidst parts of the wreckage . Experts will soon begin piecing together parts of the plane to help investigators assess the damage and definitively establish the cause of the crash . National Prosecutor 's Office spokesman Wim de Bruin said the criminal investigation is 'of an unprecedented scale ' and will take at least this year to complete . Silene Fredriksz-Hoogzand , whose son , Bryce , and his girlfriend , Daisy Oehlers , were on board the stricken flight , will visit the wreckage Saturday . 'It brings it very close to home , ' she said . 'It is where they spent their last hours . ' For some relatives , viewing the wreckage is just too hard . Yasmine Calehr , the grandmother of two brothers who died on MH17 , lives in the United States and decided not to go see the wreckage . ' I ... could not bear the sight of it , ' she said in an email to The Associated Press . Yellow and black markers are seen on a parts of the wing of the wreckage . The aircraft registration number sits on the tail part of the wreckage of plane . The wreckage , spread across three hangars , included wings , wheels , parts of the fuselage and overhead luggage bins . The cause of the crash is expected to be established by the end of the summer . All 298 passengers and crew on board the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were killed .
For almost all of them , it was the first plane to see the airplane wreckage . It was likely the plane was hit by a missile as it flew over eastern Ukraine . All 298 on board the plane from Amsterdam to Kuala airport were destroyed .