Malaysia Airlines Plane Crashes in Ukraine

Malaysia Airlines lost contact with Boeing 777

(CNN) -- A Malaysia Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has crashed in eastern Ukraine, Russian news agency Interfax reported Thursday.

Malaysia Airlines confirmed that it lost contact with Flight 17 and that the plane's last known position was over Ukrainian airspace, the airline said on Twitter.

The jet is a Boeing 777, according to Interfax. The plane reportedly went down near the border between Russia and Ukraine.

"We are aware of reports on MH17. We're gathering more information," Boeing said on Twitter.

"I am shocked by reports that an MH plane crashed. We are launching an immediate investigation," Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said in another tweet.

Map: Ukraine and Russia border

News of the Malaysian plane comes in the same week that Ukrainian officials said a Russian fighter shot down a Ukrainian jet while the jet was in in Ukrainian airspace.

The route the Malaysian plane was on, between Kuala Lumpur and the Netherlands, is a common one, CNN aviation safety consultant Mary Schiavo said Thursday. She said that the plane was flying over a troubled area and that close communication with air traffic controllers would be a key necessity.

In hostile or disputed areas, "any alteration from your course, and you can have a problem," she said.

Russia-Ukraine dispute

Tensions have been high between Ukraine and Russia since street protests forced former pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych from power in February. Russia subsequently annexed Ukraine's southeastern Crimea region, and a pro-Russian separatist rebellion has been raging in Ukraine's eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions..

Ukrainian forces have been struggling to quell the separatist unrest. Ukraine's government has accused Russia of allowing weapons and military equipment, including tanks, to cross the border illegally into the hands of pro-Russian separatists.

The Pentagon said Wednesday that Russia now has 12,000 troops on the border with Ukraine, as well as some heavy weapons. The troop numbers had fallen to about 1,000 previously from a high of an estimated 40,000 forces earlier this year.

On Thursday, CNN reported that Ukrainian officials said a Russian fighter shot down a Ukrainian jet Wednesday as the jet flew in Ukrainian airspace.

Tensions are high over that incident, separate from the breaking news of the Malaysian flight Thursday.

Malaysian Plane with 295 people crashes in Ukraine (Photos) avionmalasiaestrella

At least 295 people were on the plane that crashed in the Ukrainian region of Donetsk, the scene of fighting between government forces and pro-Russian Ukrainian rebels, as reported by the Ukrainian authorities cited by the Interfax news agency.

Dozens of bodies were strewn around the smoldering remains of an airliner that crashed in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, said a Reuters reporter who was at the scene.

A rescue worker from emergency services said at least 100 bodies had been found so far at the site, near the village of Grabovo, and that the remains of the aircraft were scattered around an area of about 15 km in diameter .

Broken pieces of the wings were marked with blue and red paint, the same color as the emblem of Malaysian Airlines, which lost track of the flight was from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur and carrying nearly 300 people, Reuters reported.

 

 

 "They killed 280 passengers and 15 crew members," wrote Anton Gueráshenko, adviser of the Ukrainian Interior Minister, in his Facebook page.

Gueráshenko added that the Boeing-777 was shot down by a missile in Donetsk area that is under the control of separatist militants.

In this regard, representatives of the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Donetsk refused to have weapons to shoot down a plane flying at 10,000 feet.

Military spokesman of the antiterrorist operation in eastern Ukraine, Vladislav Seleznev, told the Russian news agency RIA-Novosti the air crash near the town of Shakhtiorsk. EFE

 

Airline's troubles

On top of that, the report of a downed Malaysian flight marks the second time this year that Malaysia Airlines has faced an incident involving a plane.

On March 8, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared. That plane had 239 people on board. Searchers have found no trace of 370 or its passengers, despite extensive search efforts.

Flight 370 probably flew into the southern Indian Ocean on autopilot with an unresponsive crew, Australian authorities said last month.

During the early phase of the search for Flight 370, aircraft and ships scoured vast stretches of the surface of the southern Indian Ocean but found no debris.

Pings initially thought to be from the missing plane's flight recorders led to a concentrated underwater search that turned up nothing.

A new underwater search, farther south, will be broadly in an area where planes and vessels had already looked for debris on the surface of the water. It is expected to begin in August.

Via:CNN