A MAS aircraft from Malaysia, MH17, reportedly crashed in Ukraine near the Russian border, according a news agency tonight.
The Reuters report, citing the Interfax news agency’s report, said that the plane was carrying 295 passengers from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
The Interfax reported quoted a source from the airline industry which has yet to be confirmed at this time.
According to the report, the MH17 aircraft was shot down by a missile, but it has not been confirmed yet.
The reported also cited that the incident is linked to the rebels and the political crisis in the country.
The news was confirmed by the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) after receiving reports from Ukraine.
Malaysia Airlines confirms that they have received notification from Ukraine ATC that they lost contact with the MH17 flight at 1415 (GMT) at 30km from the Tamak waypoint, about 50km from the Russian-Ukrainian border.
The MH17 flight that operates on a Boeing 777 left Amsterdam at 12:15 (Amsterdam local time) and was estimated to arrive at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 06:10 (local Malaysian time) the next day.
The flight was carrying 280 passengers and 15 crew members on board.
The Emergency Ministry official said that some body parts have been scattered up to 15 kilometres from the plane’s crash site.
He said that when he was on the scene, about 100 bodies were found lying around the location.
Meanwhile, the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, said that the country’s army is not involved in reports that said that the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) MH17 aircraft, which was travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down.
“The army did not shoot at any targets in the air,” he said during a press conference.
Meanwhile, a video of the incident was uploaded on YouTube.
Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said on his Facebook page the plane was flying at an altitude of 33,000 feet when it was hit by a missile from a Buk launcher, which can fire up to an altitude of 72,000 feet.
It was the same launcher seen by a reporter from the Associated Press near the eastern Ukrainian city of Snizhne early Thursday.
Malaysia Airlines said on Twitter that “Malaysia Airlines has lost contact of MH17 from Amsterdam. The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace”.
NS
