Donetsk, Ukraine – Ukraine said passenger plane carrying 295 people was shot down Thursday as it flew over the country, and both the government and the pro-Russia separatists fighting in the region denied any responsibility for downing the plane.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
As plumes of black smoke rose up near a rebel-held village of Grabovo in eastern Ukraine, an Associated Press journalist counted at least 22 bodies at the crash site 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Russian border.
The plane appeared to have broken up before impact and the burning wreckage — including body parts and the belongings of passengers — was scattered over a wide area
Malaysia Airlines tweeted that it lost contact with one of its flights carrying 280 passengers and 15 crew as it was traveling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur over Ukrainian airspace, but did not yet confirm the crash.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called the downing an act of terrorism and called for an international investigation into the crash.
The Donetsk region government said a plane crashed Thursday near a village called Grabovo, which it said is currently under the control of the separatists. The region where the flight was lost has seen severe fighting between the two sides in recent days.
Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said on his Facebook page the plane was flying at an altitude of 10,000 meters (33,000 feet). He said it was hit by a missile fired from a Buk launcher, which can fire missiles up to an altitude of 22,000 meters (72,000 feet).
The Malaysia Airlines plane is a Boeing 777-200ER, which was delivered to Malaysia Airlines on July 30, 1997, according to Flightglobal’s Ascend Online Fleets, which sells and tracks information about aircraft. It has more than 43,000 hours of flight time and 6,950 takeoffs and landings.
Poroshenko said his country’s armed forces didn’t shoot at any airborne targets.
“We do not exclude that this plane was shot down, and we stress that the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not take action against any airborne targets,” he said. “We are sure that those who are guilty in this tragedy will be held responsible.”
Separatist leader Andrei Purgin told The Associated Press that he was certain that Ukrainian troops had shot the plane down but gave no explanation or proof for his statement.
Purgin said he did not know whether rebel forces owned Buk missile launchers, but said even if they did, there had no fighters capable of operating it.
{NewsPhotosEmbed 273127722}
Could be due to Ukranian forces battling pro-Russian separatists!
Did everyone die?
Does Malaysia air have a stock? I’d like to short it.
The 3 weeks have begun.
I think Boeing should stop selling 777’s to Malasia Airlines, since they kill the perfect reputation of the aircraft.
I wonder what factor would have more influence on this crash, Malasia Airlines, or the airplane shooting games going on there.
Just a little thought. Israel is bombing gaza for 10 days and 200 people got killed – mostly Hamas terrorists. 200 people in a situation where the terrorists are using women and childern human shields. In a situation where the people are warned to leave the location. The total number of deaths maybe 200 but the amount of deaths to innocent people is far less than that.
Let’s look at russia, in a matter of 1 minute 295 people dead. Only 1 missile and 295 innocent people dead.
To sum it up: in gaza hundreds of bombs and a TOTAL of 200 people dead (terrorists, human sheilds, and innocent people) over 10 days. In russia 295 people dead ALL innocent people in one minute with only 1 missile. So who’s worse? Where are all the human rights activists? Where is the UN? Where is the media?
Horrible news.
Hashem please watch over all flights going in and out of Israel and allow all missles from Gaza miss their mark and turn around right back to its launching site and explode! Thank you Hashem for considering this tefilah and proposal, and thank you Hashem for all the continuing open miracles YOU are showing the world!
Let’s all try to refrain from
INSENSITIVE
STUPID
IDIOTIC
comments. It would be a good idea in regard to this column as well as all other comments to refrain from all comments that fit into these categories. People who read this think that your comments reflect on the Jewish people in general.
Thank you
to shoot down a plane cruising at 30k feet you need some serious missiles.
a stinger hand held missile, which rebels use to shoot down helicopters won’t do it.
it’s scary if these rebels have access to such weapons.
OK, I am not an expert but normally if it was hit by a missile there would be failure of the aircraft at altitude and debris would be spread much wider. Perhaps there was damage which allowed the aircraft to stay whole till a lower altitude.
People died and you’re making jokes. If these were Jews who died, you wouldn’t be joking. Knock it off, insensitive ones.
Just a little thought. Israel is bombing gaza for 10 days and 200 people got killed – mostly Hamas terrorists
most where not terrorist. maybe unavoidable but that does not change the facts
That’s so terrible sad news