Malaysian passenger plane ‘shot down’ in Ukraine near Russian border with 295 people aboard (VIDEO FOOTAGE)
KYIV, Ukraine — A Ukrainian official said a passenger plane carrying
295 people was shot down Thursday over a town in eastern Ukraine.
Malaysia Airlines tweeted that it lost contact with one of its flights
over Ukrainian airspace.
As huge plumes of black smoke rose up near a village in eastern Ukraine, the fate of the passengers aboard the plane wasn’t immediately known.
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 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 Thursday. The Buk missile system can fire missiles up to an altitude of 22,000 metres.
Malaysia Airlines said on its Twitter feed that it “has lost contact of MH17 from Amsterdam. The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace. More details to follow.”
Unverified footage posted to YouTube appeared to show smoke from the crash billowing up from a field.
As huge plumes of black smoke rose up near a village in eastern Ukraine, the fate of the passengers aboard the plane wasn’t immediately known.
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 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 Thursday. The Buk missile system can fire missiles up to an altitude of 22,000 metres.
Malaysia Airlines said on its Twitter feed that it “has lost contact of MH17 from Amsterdam. The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace. More details to follow.”
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