It should be noted that the airspace over eastern Ukraine had remained open during the conflict because the planes previously shot down had tended to be helicopters or low-flying fast jets. In such case, the shooting down of the MH17 can either be a mistake or a terrorist act.
Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was flying over the war-torn region of Eastern Ukrain when it disappeared from radar. Some 280 passengers – mostly Dutch nationals – and 15 crew members were on board.
According to Malaysia Airlines, the plane departed Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport at 10:15 GMT (12:15 local time) on 17 July and lost contact four hours later at 14:15 GMT – 50km from the Russia-Ukraine border at 10,000m (33,000ft). It was due to arrive at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 22:10 GMT (06:10 local time).
It had been due to enter Russian airspace when contact was lost.
Later, the plane’s crashing was confirmed by Ukraine. The plane fell between Krasni Luch in Luhansk region and Shakhtarsk in the neighbouring region of Donetsk.
According to Reuters, there are dozens of bodies scattered around the wreckage of the jet. The agency quotes an emergencies services rescue worker as saying at least 100 bodies had so far been found at the scene, and that debris from the wreckage was scattered across an area up to about 15 km (nine miles) in diameter.
Malaysia’s leader has called the Malaysia Airlines plane crash in eastern Ukraine “deeply shocking”. Describing the disaster as a “tragic day” in a “tragic year” for Malaysia, Najib Razak said the investigation “must not be hindered in any way”.
In his statement, the Malaysian leader said the plane’s route had been declared safe by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. He said the plane had not made a distress call.
“Malaysia is unable to verify the cause of this tragedy. But we must – and we will – find out precisely what happened to this flight. If it transpires that the plane was indeed shot down, we insist that the perpetrators must swiftly be brought to justice,” he said.
The crashed plane was a Boeing 777-200ER, the same model as that of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared while travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March.
An adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, Anton Herashchenko, alleges that the plane was hit by a missile fired by a Buk launcher – a Russian-made, medium-range surface-to-air missile system. However, both the Ukrainian government and pro-Russian rebels who have been fighting in the region have denied shooting it down.
Ukraine has accused Russia’s military of supplying advanced missiles to the rebels.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said it was an “act of terrorism”. BBC reported that Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin claimed to have had intercepted phone conversations that proved the plane was shot down by pro-Russian separatists.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed the Ukraine government for restarting military operations in the area, where it is trying to regain control from pro-Russian rebels.
“The country in whose airspace this happened bears responsibility for it,” he said.
Interestingly, separatist leader Alexander Borodai accused the Ukrainian government of downing the airliner itself. “Apparently, it’s a passenger airliner indeed, truly shot down by the Ukrainian air force,” he told Russia’s state-run Rossiya 24 TV broadcaster.
Another separatist leader Andrei Purgin told The Associated Press that he was certain that Ukrainian troops had shot the plane down but gave no explanation or proof for his statement.
A plausible explanation was given by spokesman for pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk region, Sergey Kavtaradze, to Russia’s Rossiya TV. He said that they were not capable of bringing down a commercial airliner flying at 10,000 metres.
“The portable air defence systems which we have, they work at a maximum of three to four thousand metres. Therefore, it is possible to say virtually before the start of the investigation that the Ukrainian armed forces destroyed this,” he said.
Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Minister, said on his Facebook page the plane was flying at an altitude of 10,000 metres (33,000 feet) when it was hit by a missile fired from a Buk launcher. A similar launcher was seen by Associated Press journalists near the eastern Ukrainian town of Snizhne earlier on Thursday.
A Buk launcher, also known as SA-11 Gadfly (or newer SA-17 Grizzly) is a Russian-made, mobile, medium range system. It has four surface-to-air missiles of Mach 3 (max) speed. It can shoot its target at a maximum altitude of 22,000 m (72,000ft).
It should be noted that the airspace over eastern Ukraine had remained open during the conflict because the planes previously shot down had tended to be helicopters or low-flying fast jets. In such case, the shooting down of the MH17 can either be a mistake or a terrorist act.
