A plane belonging to Malaysian Airlines has gone down over eastern Ukraine, near the Russian border.
Malaysia Airlines has tweeted that it lost contact with flight MH17 from Amsterdam, and that the last known position of the plane was in Ukrainian airspace. The plane was travelling towards Kuala Lumpur.
Flightradar24, the flight tracking service, said the Boeing 777 was flying close to the city of Poltava in Ukraine flying at 33,000ft, or 10,000 metres when contact was lost.
An emergency services rescue worker at the scene told how at least 100 bodies have been found at the site so far, and that debris from the wreckage is spread across an area up to about 15km in diameter.
There were 298 people, including 154 Dutch nationals, on board the Malaysia Airlines flight that crashed in strife-torn eastern Ukraine, the carrier said on Friday.
The flight “was carrying a total number of 298 people — comprising 283 passengers including three infants of various nationalities and 15 crew of Malaysian nationality,” the airline said in an emailed statement.
There also were 43 Malaysians, including the crew and two infants, and 27 Australians, it said, updating earlier figures as the airline worked to verify passenger nationalities.
Twelve were Indonesians including an infant, nine were British, four were German, three were from the Philippines and one was Canadian.
The airline said four were Belgian but the Belgian foreign minister said five Belgians were on board.
Malaysia Airlines said the nationalities of 41 passengers remained unconfirmed.
Air traffic control lost contact with the Boeing 777-200 around 14:15 (12:15 GMT) near the Russian-Ukrainian border, Malaysia Airlines has said.
The flight took off from Schiphol airport in Amsterdam shortly after noon Thursday and was supposed to land in Kuala Lumpur at around 6:10 a.m. Friday local time.
Malaysia Airlines will send a team to Ukraine on Friday to help with the investigation.
Another plane will also be made available to grieving relatives wanting to visit the crash site, an official said.
The crash is the Netherlands’ second-largest air disaster to date.
The country’s largest happened in March 1977 when 238 Dutch citizens died at Tenerife in the Canary Islands when two Boeing 747s crashed with the loss of 582 lives.
The crash is a fresh blow to the flag carrier which, along with the Malaysian government, is still struggling to provide answers on the disappearance of flight MH370 on March 8 with 239 people aboard.
Malaysia Airlines will send a team to Ukraine on Friday to help with the investigation.
Another airplane will also be made available to grieving relatives wanting to visit the crash site, Gorter said.
Questioned about the cause of the plane crash, Gorter said: "At this stage we are still looking at it from the viewpoint of being an accident." Earlier, shocked and crying relatives were shielded from the press as they arrived at Schiphol to be taken to a special gathering area.
They were later escorted from the airport and taken by bus to an undetermined destination, Dutch news agency ANP reported.
The crash is the Netherlands' second-largest air disaster to date.
The country's largest disaster happened in March 1977 when 238 Dutch citizens died in Tenerife when two Boeing 747s crashed with the loss of 582 lives.
Malaysia Airlines says it will release the full list of the names of those who perished on board flight MH17 once all next of kin are notified.
The firm earlier revealed that it has diverted all of its European flights onto alternative routes following the downing of Flight MH17 yesterday.
The number of Britons killed in the Malaysia Airlines crash in eastern Ukraine has reportedly risen to nine. Including the 15 crew members, this brings the total death toll in the disaster to 298.
Among the dead were a number of people travelling to an international conference on Aids, being held in Melbourne, Australia.
Flight MH17 was said by eyewitnesses to have "exploded" after it was reportedly shot down by a ground-to-air missile.
In a statement released this morning, Malaysia Airlines said: "With immediate effect, all European flights operated by Malaysia Airlines will be taking alternative routes avoiding the usual route.
"Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was on a scheduled flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur went down in eastern Ukraine. Malaysia Airlines confirms that the aircraft did not make a distress call.
"The usual flight route was earlier declared safe by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. International Air Transportation Association has stated that the airspace the aircraft was traversing was not subject to restrictions.
Friday 18 July 2014
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/621093/298-on-board-crashed-malaysian-flight-airline
http://www.straitstimes.com/news/asia/south-east-asia/story/malaysia-airlines-mh17-crash-298-people-board-flight-154-dutch-says-
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/malaysia-airlines-crash-firm-says-3877168
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