One of the passengers on flight MH17, the Malaysian Airways plane brought down by a rocket in eastern Ukraine in July, had an oxygen mask on, foreign minister Frans Timmermans told a television talk show on Wednesday afternoon.

Timmermans was accused by show presenter Jeroen Pauw of making an emotional speech about the last moments of those on board the plane to the United Nations shortly afterwards.

The first report on the crash shows there is no single moment when the passengers could have realised that a rocket was approaching the plane, Pauw said.

In his rebuttal, Timmermans said one of the passengers was found with an oxygen mask on. ‘So there was time to do that,’ the minister said.

The plane had 298 people on board, of whom 196 were Dutch. So far 262 of the victims have been identified.