A Malaysian passenger jet yesterday crashed in Ukraine, killing all the 295 people on board. The dead were 280 passengers and 15 crewmembers. A Ukrainian Interior Ministry official accused pro-Russian militants of shooting down the plane over eastern Ukraine, which they denied.
Raising the stakes in the East-West showdown between Kiev and Moscow, the official blamed “terrorists” using a ground-to-air missile and Ukraine’s prime minister called the downing of the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur a “catastrophe”.
Reuters correspondent saw burning wreckage and bodies on the ground at the village of Grabovo, about 40km from the Russian border in an area where pro- Russian rebels have been active and have claimed to have shot down other aircraft.
The Boeing 777 came down near the city of Donetsk, stronghold of pro- Russian rebels, interior ministry official, Anton Gerashchenko, said on Facebook.
He added that it was “shot down with a Buk antiaircraft system by terrorists” – the term the Kiev government uses for militants seeking to unite eastern Ukraine with Russia.
Malaysia Airlines said on its Twitter feed that it had lost contact with its flight MH-17 from Amsterdam. “The last known position was over Ukrainian air space,” it said.
