Malaysian plane MH17 shot down in Ukraine, 298 dead

, July 17: A

has crashed with 298 passengers on board. According to reports coming from Interfax, the civilian plane may have been shot down by a BUK missile. Ukrainian interior ministry say that all 280 passengers and the crew members are dead.

Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine's Interior Minister, said on Facebook that the plane crashed at an altitude of 10 kilometers in Eastern Ukraine, near the Russian border. The missile theory is based on the fact that several aircrafts have been shot down in this part of the world previously.

Sources further clarified that It came down just 20 miles short of entering Russian airspace near the town of Shakhtyorsk, in an area where the Ukrainian government has been fighting pro-Russian rebels.

"It began to drop, afterwards it was found burning on the ground on Ukrainian territory", said a representative of Reuters.

Adviser to Ukraine's Interior Minister said about the crash in a FB post

According to a report by the Daily News, "Flight Aware shows the flight was heading from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, the main international airport in the Netherlands, to Kuala Lumpur International Airport outside Kuala Lumpur, the most populous city of Malaysia".

The flight is reported to have departed at 12:14 a.m. local time.

Although concrete official confirmations is yet to come from the Malaysian Airline and the Ukrainian authorities, it is said that the Malaysia Airlines lost contact of MH17 from Amsterdam. The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace. A probe has been launched by the Malaysian PM, despite Ukrainian confirmation that their defence forces are not involved in this.

Ukrainian emergency ministry officials say that over 100 bodies have been found scattered in a radius of 15 kilometers from the site. Meanwhile, the Malaysian PM heads to the MAS control room. An official statement is expected to be released soon.

The White House has directed U.S officials to stay in touch with the Ukrainian authorities. Latest reports suggest that all commercial flights including Air India have been deviated from the route of the crash.

All commercial flights over Ukraine have changd course. Bypassing affected airspace. Including 2 Air India flights. pic.twitter.com/ZPqvUAUqyg

— Nishant Gambhir (@madnish30) July 17, 2014

These are new images of the MH17 wreckage from Russian television. @ABC Special Report: http://t.co/N8rNl1EnQp pic.twitter.com/W077iDZn4D

— Gio Benitez (@GioBenitez) July 17, 2014

MAS and the Malaysian Airlines issues statement on Facebook

Just four months ago, another Malaysian Airline MH 370 went missing mysteriously with 295 passengers onboard.

OneIndia News