Israel Matzav

Malaysian Airlines flight shot down

How many of you are old enough to remember KAL-007 (Korean Airlines Flight 007)? It may have just happened again.

In what has become a horrific year for Malaysia's national carrier, a Boeing 777 bound from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was apparently shot down today over the eastern Ukraine (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).

The Malaysia Airlines plane, which was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was travelling at an altitude of 33,000 feet (10,000 metres) when it was shot down, Russia's Interfax reported.

An adviser to the Ukrainian interior ministry said the Boeing 777 was brought down by a Buk ground-to-air missile.

All 280 passengers and 15 crew members who were on the plane are believed to have died, he added.

A spokesman for Malaysian Airlines, still reeling from the loss of flight MH370 in March, confirmed it had lost contact with flight MH17, which took off from Amsterdam at 12.15pm local time.

The flight disappeared from radar as it flew over Ukrainian airspace, the spokesman said.

A number of videos apparently filmed near the village of Grabovo, Donetsk, where the plane came down, show plumes of thick, black smoke rising high into the air.

TV channel Russia 24 broadcast similar pictures, while a Reuters correspondent at the scene said he could see the wreckage of a burning aircraft and bodies on the ground.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk ordered an immediate investigation into what he described as a "catastrophe", while his Malaysian counterpart Mohd Najib Tun Razak said he was "shocked".

Alexander Borodai, the eastern Ukraine separatist leader, claimed the airliner was shot down by Ukrainian government forces, although officials in Kiev denied any involvement.

There has been no official comment from authorities in Russia.

Sky's Katie Stallard, in Moscow, said media reports suggest the plane came down in an area where there has been recent heavy fighting amid continuing tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

 There's much more and there's video as well. Read the whole thing.

Labels: anti-aircraft missiles, Malaysia, Russia, South Korea, Ukraine

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:38 PM