It is not possible to know exactly how the 298 passengers — including ten Brits — reacted as the Malaysia Airlines plane plummeted.
But grieving families were today told that the impact on hitting the ground would have been “non-survivable”.
Officials said: “It cannot be ruled out that some occupants remained conscious for some time during the one to one-and-a-half minutes for which the crash lasted.”
The Dutch report went on to say that passengers would have been “barely able to comprehend” what was happening after the plane was struck.
It would not be likely that anyone was able to perform “conscious actions” like use a mobile phone.
But, Dutch experts added, there may have been “reflex actions” — like “clutching the armrests of the seat”.
The Dutch Safety Board (DSB) concluded say the Amsterdam-to-Kuala Lumpur Boeing 777 was downed by a Russian surface-to-air missile last July.
When the missile struck the cockpit, it broke off from the rest of the plane killing the pilots instantly.
The DSB report did not indicate who fired the rocket. That will be addressed by criminal investigators who will report back later.
Yan Novikov, head of Almaz-Antey, gave a news conference but did not specify what was in the report, and he did not say whether he had been given an advance look.
A Russian state-controlled missile-maker says its own probe into the crash directly contradicts the Dutch authorities.
Buk missile manufacturer Almaz-Antey said fragments of its missile were found at the MH17 crash site.
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