Barely four months after the mysterious disappearance of MH370 over the Indian Ocean, another Malaysia Airlines plane, Flight MH17, was shot down on Thursday while flying over rebel-held Eastern Ukraine. There were no survivors reported among the 280 passengers and 15 crew onboard the aircraft, as per a TOI report. The government and the pro-Russia separatists who have been fighting in the region denied responsibility. However, a social media site attributed to a top rebel commander, Igor Strelkov, said the insurgents had shot down an army transporter at the location where the plane crashed, suggesting they may have mistaken it for a Ukrainian An-26.
Dozens of mutilated corpses could be seen strewn in the wreckage the airliner. Debris was spread out for several kilometres and the tail of the passenger jet lay in a corn field with the Malaysia Airlines insignia on it while insurgent fighters and several fire trucks were seen near the crash site. Malaysia Airlines tweeted that it lost contact with the flight as it was travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur over Ukrainian airspace.
An adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Minister said on Facebook the plane was flying at 33,000 feet when it was hit by a missile fired from a Buk launcher, which can send missiles up to 72,000 feet.
Barack Obama, President, USA, said “it looks like it may be a terrible tragedy” and that his top priority was to determine how many Americans were on board.
Petro Poroshenko, President, Ukraine on Thursday termed the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 an act of terrorism and called for an international investigation. The Donetsk region government said a plane crashed on Thursday near a village called Grabovo, which it said is currently under the control of the separatists. The region where Malaysian plane was lost has seen severe fighting between the Ukrainian government and separatists in recent days. Separatists said they had found a black box on the flight while Ukrainian officials said the rebels were hampering search operations. 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,” he added.
Separatist leader Andrei Purgin said 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.
A launcher similar to the Buk missile system was seen by an Associated Press journalist earlier on Thursday near the eastern Ukrainian town of Snizhne, which is held by the rebels. It was the second time that a Malaysia Airlines plane was lost in less than six months.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared in March while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. It has not been found, but the search has been concentrated in the Indian Ocean far west of Australia.
Hishamuddin Hussein, Defence Minister, Malaysia said on Twitter there’s no confirmation that Thursday’s plane was shot down. He said he has instructed the country’s military to check. There have been disputes over planes being shot down earlier in the region. On Wednesday evening, a Ukrainian fighter jet was shot down by an air-to-air missile from a Russian plane, Ukrainian authorities said on Thursday, adding to what Kiev says is mounting evidence that Moscow is directly supporting the separatist insurgents.
Andrei Lysenko, Spokesman, Security Council said the pilot of the Sukhoi-25 jet hit by the air-to-air missile was forced to bail after his jet was shot down. Pro-Russia rebels, meanwhile, claimed responsibility for strikes on Wednesday on two Ukrainian Sukhoi-25 jets. The Ukrainian Defence Ministry said the second jet was hit by a portable surfaceto-air missile, but added the pilot was unscathed and managed to land his plane safely. Moscow denies Western charges that is supporting the separatists or sowing unrest in its neighbour.
