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 didn'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 chance to see the twisted wreckage . It was likely the plane was hit by a missile as it flew over eastern Ukraine . All 298  on board the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were killed .