'I remember she had beautiful, manicured hands. Her nails were painted pink. I haven't forgotten': Woman haunted by body of MH17 victim which fell through her ceiling relives the horror a year after disaster

  • Ina Tipunova was catching up with friends when the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was blown out of the sky 
  • She found the body of an Asian woman in her kitchen which had fallen through the roof
  • Almost a year on, Ina would like to meet victim's family to help them with closure 
  • Her story is just one of many horrific tales from the tragedy on July 17, 2014

The corpse's delicate, manicured hands have lingered in Ina Tipunova's memory longer than she would have wished.

She was catching up with old friends in the sleepy village of Rozsypne when the missile struck the Boeing 777. 

The deafening explosion silenced them as they watched fire, smoke and debris fill the horizon. 'It looked like confetti falling through from the sky,' she said. 

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Horrific: Ina Tipunova points at the ceiling where the body of a female victim of the MH17 tragedy came crashing through the roof on July 17 last year

Horrific: Ina Tipunova points at the ceiling where the body of a female victim of the MH17 tragedy came crashing through the roof on July 17 last year

Haunting: The Asian woman fell through the roof and landed on the floor of Ina Tipunova's kitchen. The body was removed 24 hours later

Haunting: The Asian woman fell through the roof and landed on the floor of Ina Tipunova's kitchen. The body was removed 24 hours later

Ina told MailOnline she doesn't know the woman's identity, but would like to meet her family 'to help give them closure'

Ina told MailOnline she doesn't know the woman's identity, but would like to meet her family 'to help give them closure'

Bodies rained down too. Many of the 298 victims of the MH17 disaster landed in fields, some in village streets, others in gardens. 

But in a freakish twist of fate, one smashed through the corrugated roof of Ina's house. It became an eduring image of the horrific fate of the passenger jet.

She returned home to find the young woman's naked body sprawled on her kitchen floor, crooked and bloodless.

One year on, as the first anniversary of the Malaysia Airlines catastrophe approaches and the war in eastern Ukrainian continues to claim the lives of soldiers and citizens alike, Ina spoke of the day that bound her with this lifeless, nameless stranger and thrust her obscure, little town onto the global stage.

'I don't why this happened and why she came through my roof. Perhaps it's fate,' Ina said, sheltering from the sun beneath her garden's canopy of grapevines. 

'Every other house was without a body. There were bodies on roads and some in people's gardens, but nothing like this.'

Inside her ramshackle kitchen, the ceiling's splintered hole remains. Beneath the pots, pans and empty shelves, all that remains of the intruder is a faint, white stain of chlorine.

'I was given some chemicals to clean the floor afterwards,' Ina said, pointing to the ghostly mark. 'I remember she had very beautiful, manicured hands. Her nails were painted pink. I haven't forgotten.'

The widowed mother-of-two shrugged off any suggestion that the incident had traumatised her. 'I lost my first son 10 years ago in a coalmine collapse. After that, nothing really could shock me. This hasn't given me nightmares.' 

But she does think about the girl most days.

'I want to meet her relatives to see pictures of her when she was younger, just to know something about her,' she said. 'But I know nothing. Nothing at all – only that she was from Asia.

'Maybe her family would like to meet me too, to speak with me and see the place where she died. For them, it might help finish the story.'

Investigation: A report into the tragedy by Dutch investigators is due to be released in October, but it is suggested the plane was brought down by pro-Russian rebels firing a missile mistakenly

Investigation: A report into the tragedy by Dutch investigators is due to be released in October, but it is suggested the plane was brought down by pro-Russian rebels firing a missile mistakenly

It is almost a year since flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine en-route to Kuala Lumper, killing all 298 people on board. MailOnline spoke to people living where the plane came down to get their memories

It is almost a year since flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine en-route to Kuala Lumper, killing all 298 people on board. MailOnline spoke to people living where the plane came down to get their memories

Next Friday, disparate communities across the world – from locals in villages around the crash site to political leaders in the home countries of the 298 crew and passengers – will unite in memory of the tragedy on July 17, 2014. Church services will be held in surrounding villages, and the Australian, Malaysian and Dutch governments have announced plans for their own ceremonies.

As the Dutch safety board prepares to publish a draft of the report into the disaster in October, Malaysia is pressing for the criminal prosecution of those who shot down the plane during its flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. The country wants the UN's Security Council to set up an international tribunal to bring those responsible to justice.

One sign reads 'Stop and pray; feel how time continues here. The Boeing crashed and, in this terrible moment, took someone's life'

Leaks from intelligence agencies and the official investigation suggest the missile was supplied by Russia to rebels who believed, mistakenly, that they were shooting down a Ukrainian military plane. Both Russia and separatist fighters blame the Ukrainian military for the tragedy, insisting a government fighter jet fired the fatal rocket.

The road to the tiny hamlet of Grabovo lies far from such high-level wrangling. It feels a world away from the heated, international exchanges and is unrecognisable as the site of the horror that was unleashed across the region's prairies twelve months ago.

Vast amounts of debris were scattered here, including the tailfin, wing and landing gear. Now cleared of wreckage and returned to its original state, the vista is a picture postcard of rural Ukraine, dotted with memorial crosses. One sign reads 'Stop and pray; feel how time continues here. The Boeing crashed and, in this terrible moment, took someone's life'.

The scene is almost cloyingly clichéd. Old babooshkas push wooden wheelbarrows loaded with home-grown vegetables, shirtless men watch over herds of cows, and women cross pastures with milk pails in their hands. One such lady is 51-year-old Lena Martinsova. For her, the airline tragedy and months of warfare have done little to change the atmosphere of her native village. One year on, no ghosts remain.

Death and destruction: Marina Volkova and her husband Evgeny, a former miner, were in their sitting room in Rozsypne when they heard the explosion. Outside their house was the body of a young woman

Death and destruction: Marina Volkova and her husband Evgeny, a former miner, were in their sitting room in Rozsypne when they heard the explosion. Outside their house was the body of a young woman

'It sounds strange to say but this place doesn't feel haunted,' she admitted. 'There's only positive energy here.

'Despite so much military action and the plane crash, all the buildings in our village are totally undamaged. Our church has stood for 200 years and it is still there.

'The rest of the world may think otherwise but this is not a bad place. It feels blessed.'

I spotted the plane while I was looking after the cows. I then saw it explode. It sounded like a balloon exploding – a loud pop.
Vitaly 

Not only bodies fell from the sky. Charred and twisted chunks of metal and luggage came crashing down. Vitaly, whose cattle graze in this agricultural area just 25 miles from the Russian border, well remembers the hellish scene.

'I spotted the plane while I was looking after the cows,' he recounted. 'From where I was standing, it was clearly a large, passenger jet. I then saw it explode. It sounded like a balloon exploding – a loud pop.'

'The wreckage started raining down as my cows ran away in various directions. I sprinted towards some trees and dived into a dip in the ground to try and save myself from the wreckage.

'The whole thing lasted for around 40 seconds. I then ran home, dodging the naked bodies of the passengers and the thousands of parts of the plane. There was fire and smoke everywhere.'

He added, wryly: 'I don't know how the whole experience affected the cows. They can't speak and tell you what they think.'

Alexander Smernov, a retired welder living in a bungalow in nearby Rozsypne, endured a similar horror. The 62-year-old rushed into the basement with his wife Lena, 51, when they heard the explosion. 'There were bodies falling from the sky and we thought they were bombs.'

When the couple finally emerged, they were confronted with a nightmarish scene. 'Our street was littered with bodies. We covered them with sheets but they were there in the heat for over 24 hours. It was just awful.

'There were more bodies in the sunflower fields nearby. They were totally drained of blood. Miners worked in shifts to comb the field. They found many children.'

Nightmares: Alexander Smernov, a retired welder, and his wife Lena, recount how they saw bodies falling from the sky, which they thought were bombs. 'It was just awful,' he told MailOnline

Nightmares: Alexander Smernov, a retired welder, and his wife Lena, recount how they saw bodies falling from the sky, which they thought were bombs. 'It was just awful,' he told MailOnline

Quiet: Lena Martinsova, 51, with her husband, Alexander. She said little has changed in the hamlet of Grabovo since flight MH17 crashed a year ago

Quiet: Lena Martinsova, 51, with her husband, Alexander. She said little has changed in the hamlet of Grabovo since flight MH17 crashed a year ago

Memories: There are signs along the roads in the area reminding people of what happened last year

Memories: There are signs along the roads in the area reminding people of what happened last year

Tragedy: Miners combed the fields around the hamlet for the remains, finding 'many children'

Tragedy: Miners combed the fields around the hamlet for the remains, finding 'many children'

The married couple at Number 17, Zagorskaya Street, can't work out if their experience that day was fate or just a sickening coincidence.

Marina Volkova, 46, and her husband Evgeny, 54, a former miner, were in their sitting room in Rozsypne when they heard the explosion. As they ran to shelter in the basement, the roof and a window were battered by the body parts of a young woman.

 Her head was by the outside wall and her legs and feet just a metre away. Her torso had disappeared
 Marina Volkova

'Her head was by the outside wall and her legs and feet just a metre away. Her torso had disappeared,' the grandmother said. 'At first, we thought she was the victim of a shelling nearby and her body had been propelled into our garden. But then we saw she was Asian and we saw all the destruction outside on the street.

'We had to leave the body there for 24 hours. I couldn't sleep all night. The next day we moved out to stay with neighbours.

'It had a terrible effect on us. And this had come after eight months of shelling. As soon as the body was taken away, I felt such relief and slept fine.'

Her husband now jokes that their house was destined to be chosen. 'The day was the 17th of July, the plane was MH17 and our house is number 17.

'Ask me what it means and I just don't know. I don't think it's an unlucky number - it's just fate.'

The couple forked out around £150 to repair the damaged roof and replace the window. But they won't be making any financial claim against the Ukrainian government or rebel authorities. 'We don't want compensation from anyone. We just want peace.'

Back across town, the day concluded at Ina's. She modestly showed off her roses and lilies, as well as her large vegetable patch – a hotchpotch of cabbages, cucumbers, potatoes, spring onions and tomatoes.

The rustic smallholding seems an unlikely epicentre of one of the worst airline disasters in history. The culprits remain at large and the war is far from over.

Twelve months on, Ina cannot grasp any possible meaning that may lie behind the hole in her ceiling and the appearance of the dead woman on her floor.

'On the anniversary, I'll go to church and think of the victims. I can't put a cross in the middle of the kitchen but I may place some flowers there for her.

'I was full of sorrow when all these people died. Even now it is very difficult. There are still so many questions. Who shot it down? Why was the plane allowed to fly here? Why was my house chosen? Why did this happen?'

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