Malaysian Airlines plane crash: '9 Britons killed in jet tragedy'

It is understood the Boeing 777 plane was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur

Reports: The plane is understood to be a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777

Nine Britons were tonight reported to have perished when a Malaysia Airlines passenger shot was apparently shot down over Ukraine.

Flight MH17 - a Boeing 777-200 travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with 295 people on board - was in transit over the war-torn region when it disappeared from radar screens.

Graphic images showed a pall of smoke, charred wreckage and bodies at the crash scene in eastern Ukraine.


The Ukrainian government immediately blamed the separatists with President Petro Poroshenko declaring the "armed forces of Ukraine did not take action against any airborne targets".

Anton Gerashenko, an aide to the Ukrainian Interior Minister, said on his Facebook page that the plane was flying at an altitude of 33,000 feet over when it was hit by a missile fired from a Buk launcher, a Soviet era surface-to-air missile system capable of taking down a high altitude aircraft.

A similar launcher was reportedly seen by journalists near the eastern Ukrainian town of Snizhne earlier today.



The incident sparked a fresh international crisis and is bound to put more pressure on Russia to rein in the rebels.

In the aftermath of the plane's destruction Russian president Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Barack Obama spoke by phone.

Najib Razak, the Malaysian prime minister, said: "I am shocked by reports that an MH plane crashed. We are launching an immediate investigation."

The jet would have been flying at high altitude on an intercontinental flight that took it over the region.

As the drama unfolded, several other passenger jets were flying through Ukrainian airspace on one of the main routes from Europe to Asia for air traffic.

Today's calamity will prompt questions about why the route was still being used given previous incidents.

Tonight, the Department for Transport in London said flights were now being diverted.



On Wednesday night the Ukrainian authorities said one of their fighter jets was shot down by an air-to-air missile from a Russian plane and Ukrainian troops were fired upon by missiles from a village inside Russia.

The episodes add to what Ukraine says is mounting evidence that Moscow is directly supporting separatist insurgents in eastern Ukraine who have substantial quantities of powerful weapons.

Ukraine said a military transport plane was shot down on Monday by a missile fired from Russian territory. Security Service chief Valentyn Nalyvaichenko said he had "unconditional evidence" that Russia was involved in downing that aircraft.

In a tweet Malaysia Airlines said: "Malaysia Airlines has lost contact of MH17 from Amsterdam. The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace. More details to follow."












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