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Malaysia jet brought down by missiles, officials say

July 18, 2014

People walk amongst the debris, at the crash site of a passenger plane near the village of Grabovo, Ukraine, Thursday, July 17, 2014. A Ukrainian official said a passenger plane carrying 295 people was shot down Thursday as it flew over the country and plumes of black smoke rose up near a rebel-held village in eastern Ukraine. Malaysia Airlines tweeted that it lost contact with one of its flights as it was traveling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur over Ukrainian airspace. (AP/Dmitry Lovetsky)

People walk amongst the debris, at the crash site of a passenger plane near the village of Grabovo, Ukraine, Thursday, July 17, 2014. (AP/Dmitry Lovetsky)

A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 carrying 298 people crashed in east Ukraine on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. U.S. officials believe that the plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile.

There are no signs of survivors at the scene of the crash near the village of Grabovo, a town in a rebel-held territory close to the border with Russia, according to reports.

(AP)

The plane was last detected traveling at about 30,000 feet, according to tracking information from a military spy satellite. The satellite was unable to detect where exactly the missile was fired.

Both sides in Ukraine’s civil conflict accused each other of shooting down the plane with a missile, although it remains unclear why the plane was allegedly targeted.

It is the second disaster suffered by Malaysia Airlines this year. Flight MH370 disappeared en route from Malaysia to China in April and still has not been found.

In a statement, Malaysia Airlines said the plane was carrying at least 154 Dutch nationals, 27 Australians, 43 Malaysians, including 15 crew members, 12 Indonesians and nine Britons. Other passengers came from Germany, Belgium, the Philippines and Canada. The nationalities of 41 people have yet to be confirmed.