Five Belgians on board MH17

Brussels, July 18: Five Belgian nationals were among the victims of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 that crashed in Ukraine Thursday, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Didier Reynders said on Friday.

Reynders extended his condolences to the families and friends of the victims, calling for an investigation to clarify the causes of the tragedy, Xinhua reported.

The Belgian ministry of foreign affairs has opened an emergency hotline to provide information to concerned family members.

The Kuala Lumpur-bound Malaysia Airlines MH17 jetliner crashed Thursday in Ukraine near the Russian border, with all the 298 passengers and crew members on board reportedly killed. It was believed to have been shot down by a rocket.

The flight had taken off from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport.

This is the second major tragedy for Malaysia Airlines this year after flight MH370 with 239 passengers and crew on board went missing on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing March 8 and remains untraced till date.

IANS