Malaysia Airlines plane MH17 ‘shot down’ in Ukraine

A MALAYSIAN Airlines plane with 295 people on board has crashed in easte Ukraine amid claims it was shot down.

As plumes of black smoke rose up near a rebel-held village of Grabovo in easte Ukraine, an Associated Press joualist counted at least 22 bodies at the crash site 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the Russian border.

The plane appeared to have broken up before impact and the buing wreckage - which included body parts and the belongings of passengers - was scattered over a wide area.

The airline said the plane was flight MH17 — a Boeing 777-200 travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

Wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 295 people from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. AFP PHOTO/DOMINIQUE FAGET Source: AFP

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called the downing an act of terrorism and called for an inteational investigation into the crash.

The village of Grabovo is currently under the control of the separatists and the area has seen severe fighting between the two sides in recent days.

"Malaysia Airlines confirms it received notification from Ukrainian ATC that it had lost contact with flight MH17 at 1415 (GMT) at 30km from Tamak waypoint, approximately 50km from the Russia-Ukraine border,” the carrier said in a statement on Facebook.

Ukraine"s Interior Minister Anton Gerashchenko was quoted as saying the plane had been shot down by a ground-to-air missile, and that 280 passengers and 15 crew had been killed.

A man stands next to the wreckage of the Malaysian Airlines plane. AFP PHOTO/DOMINIQUE FAGET Source: AFP

He told the Wall Street Joual pro-Russia rebels had set up a ground-to-missile battery near the Russian border by the town of Snizhne.

"They clearly thought that it was a military transport plane that they were shooting at,” he said. "They were the ones who did this.”

In a statement, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said the plane "disappeared from radar screens”.

"In recent days, this is the third tragic accident after the Russian territory were downed aircraft AN-26 and SU-25 Armed Forces of Ukraine. We do not exclude that this aircraft was also shot down, and stress that the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not commit any action to defeat the purposes of the air,” he added.

A defence expert told the BBC that shooting down a plane at that height would have required a long-range surface-to-air missile — possibly guided by radar.

This is the surface-to-air missile Ukraine says shot down Malaysia Airlines plane http://t.co/8zlp4cZutk pic.twitter.com/XHSlJJj7dL — Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 17, 2014

Oleg Tsarev, one of the leaders of the breakaway Donetsk People"s Republic, told Time that the rebels did not shoot the plane down.

"We don"t have weapons that can take down a plane from that altitude,” he said, minutes after news of the crash broke.

But there are reports that rebels did have an anti-craft military station and the Russian state media even congratulated the rebels on their new Russian-made BUK missile launchers seized from a Ukrainian air force base.

"The Donetsk resistance fighters have captured an anti-aircraft military station,” declared the Kremlin"s main television network Vesti.

Since then there has been the downing of Ukrainian aircraft including an AN-26 military transport plane shot down on Monday. Its four crew members were taking hostage after they ejected from the aircraft.

Flight MH17 departed Amsterdam at 12:15pm (Amsterdam local time) on Thursday and was scheduled to arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 6:10am (Malaysia local time) the next day.

The plane disappeared from radar when flying at 10,000 metres cruising altitude, Interfa-Ukraine reports.

Ukraine earlier this week accused Russia of shooting down one of their fighter jets, which Moscow also denied.

Malaysia"s prime minister Najib Razak said he was "shocked” by the reports. "We are launching an immediate investigation,” he said.

The Kremlin said US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin had discussed the crash over the phone.

A raft of global airlines, including Air France, Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, swiftly responded to the disaster by saying they avoid airspace over easte Ukraine.

The crash comes after the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which remains missing.