MOSCOW, July 17 (Xinhua) -- A Malaysian flight crashed Thursday in eastern Ukraine near the Russian border, with all the 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board reportedly having been killed.
A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, which was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, started descending 50 kilometers before entering Russian airspace, and was subsequently found burning on the ground on Ukrainian territory," Interfax news agency quoted an aviation source as saying.
The plane disappeared from radar at an altitude of 10,000 meters and then crashed near the city of Shakhtarsk in Ukraine's Donetsk region, it said, citing Ukrainian law enforcement authorities.
An advisor to Ukrainian Interior Minister Anton Herashchenko wrote on his Facebook that "280 passengers and 15 crew members have been killed."
A Xinhua reporter was stopped by local militias some 5 km from the crash site, and was asked to wait for permission to move closer. Witnesses said they heard loud explosions and saw human remains and identity documents scattering around.
The Chinese Embassy authorities in Kiev maintained close contact with Ukrainian partners, and were verifying information on any potential Chinese casualties, an official told Xinhua.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said the plane could have been shot down, but the Ukrainian Armed Forces had nothing to do with it. Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk said the government has formed a special investigative commission for the incident.
The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office said law enforcement authorities could not access the crash site for investigation, as it is controlled by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR).
Russian President Vladimir Putin Thursday informed U.S. President Barack Obama via telephone of the plane crash, and "had a detailed discussion on the acute crisis in Ukraine," the Kremlin press service said in a statement.
Putin said both of the conflicting sides have to cease fire immediately, and Russia had taken measures to resume consultations of the contact group "with participation of representatives of southeastern Ukraine."
The president has also offered his "deep condolences" to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak over the deadly incident.
The cause of the crash was yet to be determined, but Kiev and eastern separatists have traded accusations over the responsibility. Kiev authorities said the militias shot down the plane with a Buk air defense system.
Meanwhile, Andrei Purgin, first deputy prime minister of the DPR, said they "simply do not have such air defense systems, our MANPADs have a firing range of only 3,000 to 4,000 meters," Interfax reported. Purgin said they will give the plane's flight recorders to Moscow for testing.
"Of course, we most likely will give them to the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC), to Moscow. High-level experts, who will be able to determine exactly the reason of the catastrophe, work there," he said.
The crash came on the same day the DPR separatists claimed they had shot down two Ukrainian warplanes, an An-26 transport jet and a SU-25 fighter, which Kiev laid the blame on Russia.
Malaysia Airlines said in a statement it had received notification from the Ukrainian air traffic control that it had lost contact with flight MH17 at 1415 GMT, some 30 km from the Tamak waypoint, approximately 50 km from the Russia-Ukraine border. The Boeing 777 had left Amsterdam at 12:15 p.m. local time and was expected to arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 6:10 a.m. (2210 GMT) on Friday, the airline said.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said Friday on his twitter account that he was "shocked by reports that a Malaysian Airline plane crashed," adding that they have launched an immediate investigation.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Deputy Foreign Minister Hamzah Zainuddin said that his ministry was working closely with the Russian and Ukraine governments on the tragic incident.
"We are working closely with both governments to get information," he said, adding, "currently we have some of the information, only waiting to be verified." - Xinhua
蘋果日報:
‘Plane may have been shot down’
PETALING JAYA: A Malaysia Airlines plane flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur has crashed in the Ukraine-Russia border, and Ukraine’s president said the jet may have been shot down.
Reports said the Boeing 777-200ER carrying 280 passengers and 15 crew is believed to have been shot down near the village of Grabovo in the rebellion-wracked region of Donetsk.
MAS said it lost contact with the aircraft at 1415GMT (10.15pm Malaysian time).
Flight MH17 left Amsterdam’s Schipol Airport at 12.15pm local time (6.15pm, Malaysian time) and had been scheduled to arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 6.10am today.
Crash site: Smoke rising at the site where MH17 is said to have crashed in the donetsk region in ukraine.
The fate of the passengers and crew has yet to be verified, but reports have quoted the Ukraine Interior Ministry as saying there were no survivors.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said in a statement in his website that the Ukraine armed forces did not fire at any targets in the sky.
The country’s Prime Minister Areseny Yatseniuk has ordered an investigation into what he said was an "airplane catastrophe".
However, Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to the Ukraine interior minister, said on his Facebook page the plane was flying at an altitude of 10,000m when it was hit by a missile fired from a Buk launcher. The Buk missile system can fire missiles up to an altitude of 22,000m.
Rebel leaders have also denied involvement, telling Russian news agencies that they were not responsible for shooting down the plane and pledged to allow "international experts" access to the crash site.
The pro-Russian rebels, who are fighting central Kiev authorities, claimed the plane had been shot down by a Ukrainian jet.
"Witnesses saw the plane being attacked by a battle plane of the Ukrainian forces," the government of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic said in a statement. "After that, the passenger plane split into two in the air."
MAS said on its Twitter feed that it "has lost contact of MH17 from Amsterdam. The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace. More details to follow."
The region where the plane went down has seen severe fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russia separatist rebels in recent days.
On Wednesday evening, a Ukrainian fighter jet was shot down by an air-to-air missile from a Russian plane, Ukrainian authorities said yesterday.
Earlier this week, Ukraine said a military transport plane was shot down on Monday by a missile fired from Russian territory.
This is the second tragedy involving MAS in four months, when a
Beijing-bound airliner – also a Boeing 777-200ER – with 239 people on
board went missing an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur
International Airport on March 8. The search for Flight MH370 – in the
southern Indian Ocean – is still ongoing. - The Star/Asia News NetworkRelated post:
Malaysia's flight MH370 mistakes reflect Malaysia's stagnant politics ...
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