MH17: Timeline And Latest Verified Updates On The Plane Crash In Ukraine

Prosecutors in the Netherlands revealed on Tuesday that they had found what could be pieces of a Russian-made surface-to-air missile system in eastern Ukraine, in the area of the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.

The announcement brings the methodical, slow-moving investigation of the crash closer to the version that burst into public view almost immediately last summer after the plane exploded. That version blamed a surface-to-air missile.

nytimes.com

But the prosecutors warned that no conclusion could yet be drawn that the discovered parts have a causal connection to the MH17 crash.

"The parts are of particular interest to the criminal investigation as they can possibly provide more information about who was involved in the crash of MH17," reads a statement released by the Joint Investigation Team, the international group of prosecutors leading the criminal investigation.

The revelation is significant as the first from Dutch investigators to link physical evidence with a specific type of missile system, a Buk surface-to-air system.

If confirmed, their discovery could prove embarrassing for Russia, as it would rule out an air-to-air missile strike by a Ukrainian fighter jet as the cause of the disaster, which was the version promulgated by the Russian Defense Ministry soon after the crash.

Dutch investigators had said in the fall that damage to the fuselage was consistent with the impact of fast-moving or “high energy” shrapnel from a missile, without elaborating on the type.

nytimes.com

Fred Westerbeke, a spokesman for the Dutch Prosecutor's Office, said that seven fragments had been found which were definitely not part of the aircraft, and further investigations had shown that they were probably from a missile system.

"We are going to need more investigation to really find out what exactly this is and if it is part of a possible system that took down MH17," he added.

"If we can establish that, then we can say that it is a breakthrough."

The Dutch safety board is characteristically cautious. For now it is insisting that no causal connection can be established between the discovered parts and the crash.

The aircraft is widely believed to have been downed by a surface-to-air missile. Indeed the investigators' preliminary report - released last September - noted that the damage to the aircraft's fuselage and cockpit indicated impacts from a large number of high-energy objects from outside the aircraft; consistent with an engagement by a Buk-type missile.

The crucial question remains who fired the weapon - Russian-backed separatists or even the Russian military itself? The Ukrainians also operate a variant of the Buk system.

Disputes over who is responsible for the disaster have helped to sour relations between Moscow and the West.

Several Western nations and the Ukrainian government have accused pro-Russian separatists operating in the region of shooting down the plane with a missile.

Rebel leaders and the Russian government have repeatedly disputed those allegations, and have suggested instead that Ukrainian forces shot the plane down with either a surface-to-air missile or one of their own fighter jets.

The plane was flying from Amsterdam to the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, on July 17, 2014, when it broke up over rebel territory in eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board, most of them citizens of the Netherlands.

nytimes.com

It will take several months to complete the reconstruction and a final report on the cause of the crash is not expected until mid-2015, Safety Board head Tjibbe Joustra said. The task will not be easy, with some parts of the aircraft having been destroyed by fire.

reuters.com

Crash investigators will try to reconstruct the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 that was shot down over eastern Ukraine in July from wreckage that was brought by truck to a Dutch air force hangar yesterday. Members of the national Safety Board will piece together the remains of the plane on a frame to determine exactly what brought down flight MH17 and killed all 298 people on board.

themalaysianinsider.com

"There were also some parts missing. We know that they were missing, but we think that we can be more than satisfied about the amount of wreckage we have." A report on the cause of the crash is not expected until the middle of next year.

express.co.uk

A convoy of lorries carrying wreckage from the Malaysia Airlines plane downed in July over Ukraine has reached Germany on its way to the Netherlands for investigation. Due to driving restrictions the convoy can only move at night.

euronews.com

Wreckage from Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 will arrive from Ukraine at a Dutch air force base today where the plane will be reconstructed as part of probe into the crash. The convoy of lorries carrying pieces of wreckage from Ukraine is due to arrive at the Gilze-Rijen airbase in the south of the country at around 2pm (1300 GMT, 9pm MYT), the Dutch Safety Board (OVV) said in a statement yesterday.

themalaysianinsider.com

"The arrival of the wreckage at the air force base will not be of a ceremonial character and those attending will not be permitted to be present during the opening or unloading of the trucks," it said. The wreckage will be photographed, scanned and categorised before being reconstructed in a hanger. The reconstruction will be closed to the public, although next of kin will be allowed to see it if they wish.

themalaysianinsider.com

Malaysia has been accepted as a full and equal member of the MH17 Joint Investigation Team that is tasked with focusing on the criminal investigation into the downing of the Malaysian Airlines (MAS) flight.

The notification of the acceptance of Malaysia in the team was conveyed by the Dutch National Public Prosecutor’s Office through a letter dated Nov 28 that was received by Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail on Monday.

According to a statement from the Attorney-General’s Chambers yesterday, the original members of the team were the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium and Ukraine.

“As part of the continuing joint international criminal investigation process, the attorney-general will be leaving for The Hague Wednesday to attend the Third Eurojust Coordination Meeting on the criminal investigation, scheduled for December 4,” said the statement.

freemalaysiatoday.com

Wreckage of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 recovered from its crash site in eastern Ukraine will be reassembled for an investigation at a military base in the Netherlands, Dutch authorities said today. The wreckage, collected by local emergency services under Dutch supervision in an area fought over by Russian-backed rebels and troops loyal to the Kiev government, will be trucked to the air base next week.

themalaymailonline.com

“The Defence Ministry has prepared the transportation of the wreckage and the loading of the first lorries will start today,” the Dutch Safety Board said in a statement.

themalaymailonline.com

The mother of a victim killed in the Malaysian plane crash in eastern Ukraine has started legal proceedings to sue the Ukrainian authorities in the European Court of Human Rights, demanding about $1 million for pain and suffering.

rt.com

The mother of the victim named as “Olga L” was seeking $1 million (€803,000) in compensation from Kiev for manslaughter by negligence and had begun proceedings in the past week, Bild am Sonntag newspaper said.

The woman said Ukraine should have closed its airspace to civilian flights when fighting raged in the east of the country, but chose not to because it did not want to lose out on overflight fees.

"By keeping its airspace open for transit by aircraft from other countries, the state must ensure the safety of the flights. If this is temporarily impossible, it means that it should close its airspace," Giemulla told the AFP news agency in September.

The last of the Boeing 777's recovered fragments were loaded onto trains and trucks in the village of Pelahiivka, for transport to the city of Kharkiv on Sunday under the supervision of Dutch investigators and European security officials.

"When the wreckage has arrived in Kharkiv, transportation to the Netherlands will be prepared. At this point it cannot be said when and in what way this transport will be carried out," the OVV said.

"Despite the complex circumstances and local safety situation, the team was able to work as planned," said a statement issued by Dutch authorities. "A few parts of wreckage were too big for transport by train and arrived in Kharkov by truck yesterday."

nbcnews.com

Dutch forensic experts recovered further human remains at the crash site of downed Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday, but said they could not yet start salvaging the wreckage. "A small team has recovered body parts at the site after pieces of the wreckage were lifted with a crane," the Dutch defence ministry said in a statement.

They are hoping to recover the debris from the doomed MAS flight, amid fears that full-scale fighting could break out again. The human remains will now be sent to Kharkiv for a first forensic check and be repatriated to the Netherlands at a later stage, the ministry said.

The Dutch team's chief official, Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, said his small group had "done everything they could" to retrieve body parts and personal belongings. "To continue, we would now need heavy equipment and far more forensic experts. At this moment it's not possible," Aalbersberg said in the statement. He added the security situation around the crash site "remained fragile".

Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders warned over the weekend that the last remains of MH17's victims may never be recovered as five more coffins were flown back to the Netherlands. The Defence Ministry said work had not started yet to recover parts of the wreckage for the air crash investigation.

Oehlers, a singer, and the relatives of as many as 50 other victims are growing increasingly frustrated by the fact that the authorities have not helped them trace loved ones lost on July 17, when the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot out of the sky.

reuters.com

The report highlighted that attempts to recover parts of the aircraft and human remains have repeatedly been called off due to fighting on the ground. Families are yet at loggerheads over the fact that the Dutch government isn’t revealing enough information of the victims. A law firm reportedly preparing to sue the government for negligence over its handling of the matter.

astroawani.com

"You just wonder; what are they doing?” he said of the authorities. “If it was another country, they’d just grab their stuff and head out there. I don’t know what the spirit of Dutch politics is, but I think they are too soft.”

reuters.com

Bryce and Daisy’s relatives have Bryce’s foot and part of a bone for Daisy, but no more. Relatives of nine people on board the Boeing 777 have no remains at all. Some families are waiting for enough body parts to hold funerals.

reuters.com

A Dutch team has arrived at the Malaysia Airlines MH17 crash site in eastern Ukraine after weeks of difficulty accessing the area. The investigators are hoping to recover debris from the flight but there are fears fresh fighting could hamper the process.

OSCE spokesman Michael Bociurkiw said heavy shelling in nearby Donetsk city had meant investigators had to leave the site. "We're doing everything we can as a special monitoring mission into Ukraine to try to restore that ceasefire and today called once again on immediate de-escalation and all sides have maximum restraint," Mr Bociurkiw told ABC News Breakfast. "We're hoping that both sides will adhere to that ceasefire that was agreed way back in September."

Malaysia is now a member of the Dutch-led criminal investigation team probing the MH17 tragedy. The decision was reached after a meeting between Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte here yesterday.

asiaone.com

"I would like to state that 43 people died in this crash and the aircraft (MH17) was carrying the Malaysian flag, so it is only logical that Malaysia gets involved," Rutte said during a joint press conference.

indiatimes.com

Malaysia has been a member of the technical investigation team but not the criminal investigation team led by the Dutch Ministry of Justice. Malaysia's ambassador to the Netherlands Datuk Dr Fauziah Mohd Taib was reported by the Dutch media on Oct 30 as saying that Malaysian authorities were frustrated by their lack of involvement in the criminal investigation.

asiaone.com

Najib in response to Rutte's comments said that he expected a "meaningful development" to take place in the next few days regarding Malaysia's involvement in the team, the Malaysian Star reported. The prime minister noted that there was a silver lining behind the tragedy where the nations of the affected countries became even closer together.

indiatimes.com

After talks, Mr Rutte and Mr Razak stressed their commitment to work together and agreed Malaysian investigators must also be given access to the crash site. Economic relations between the two countries have traditionally been strong - the Netherlands is the second largest Eurozone investor in Malaysia.

bbc.com

Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans has said that one of the 298 people killed in the downing of a Malaysia Airlines plane over eastern Ukraine was found wearing an oxygen mask. He indicated that not everybody on board had died instantly when the plane was hit by a missile.

bbc.com

Timmermans quickly apologized to victims’ families for the disclosure in a government statement. But by then, the remarks had already resulted in waves of angry comments as well as intense speculation on Dutch social media about what, if anything, the presence of the oxygen mask might indicate about the circumstances of the crash.

nytimes.com

"You know that somebody was discovered wearing an oxygen mask and had time to put it on," Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans told a talk show on national television late on Wednesday. Dutch prosecutors confirmed on Thursday they were investigating after the oxygen mask was discovered draped around the person's neck.

ndtv.com

"How and when the mask ended up around the victim's neck is unknown," the prosecutors stressed. "The Dutch Forensics Institute examined the mask looking for fingerprints, saliva and DNA, but the probe has not revealed any result," they said in a letter to victims' families which was published online.

None of the other victims of the fatal crash that killed all 298 on board -- 193 of them Dutch -- was wearing an oxygen mask, they added. The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was shot down on July 17 while flying over insurgent-held territory in conflict-wracked eastern Ukraine.

ndtv.com

Timmermans has now said he regrets the remark and upsetting families. "The last thing I want is to add to their suffering in any way," he said in a government statement (in Dutch) released hours after he made the comment on the Pauw talk show on Dutch TV. "I shouldn't have said it."

bbc.com

The international team investigating the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH17 tragedy is expected to re-enter the crash site in April next year. Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said this was decided by the three-nation team comprising Malaysia, the Netherlands and Australia after the investigation temporarily stopped due to the cold weather and the ongoing armed conflict.

"Clashes are still taking place there. The latest, I learnt there was a gun battle this morning between the separatists and Ukrainian troops at the airport in Donetsk, Ukraine," he told a news conference after attending a rank conferment and handing-over of duties ceremony at Bukit Aman in Kuala Lumpur today.

themalaysianinsider.com

He said the investigating team would focus on a new location at the crash site involving a livestock farm where fragments of the aircraft had been found.

An anonymous benefactor has offered a US$30 million (RM96 million) reward for conclusive evidence on who shot down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on July 17, reports said today.

themalaysianinsider.com

The offer is being made through German fraud investigation company, Wifka, and has been advertised on its website. “After the terrible assassination or ‘accident’ all political parties, at home and abroad, said they owed it to the victims, their families and the public to clarify the circumstances of the crash and present evidence for what happened. None of this has yet been done,” read the advertisement on the website.

Wifka, a private investigation firm in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany said they were acting on behalf of a mysterious client who made the offer. The firm added that the offer is legitimate and the reward money is already being held on deposit in Zurich.

therakyatpost.com

Wifka said on Wednesday that it wanted to know who shot down the flight and who gave the order to do so. It also wanted to know if there were any cover-ups of the shooting, what happened to those involved in the shooting, and what kind of weapon was used.

Wifka said on its website that the reward will be paid in Zurich or “in a different neutral place of the whistleblower’s choice. “The reward on offer is even higher than the US$25 million reward offered for Osma bin Laden.”

therakyatpost.com

Wifka said that it works confidentially and advised whistle-blowers to take great care, and for example, asked to be contacted by a lawyer. “Details should not lightly be given away in emails or on the phone. A secure way of communication will be established for every individual case,” said Wifka.

Dutch authorities leading an international investigation into the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) over eastern Ukraine plan to publish a preliminary report on 9 September into the disaster that killed all 298 people on board.

therakyatpost.com

The Dutch Safety Board said in a statement on Thursday the report "will present factual information based on sources available" to its investigators. Spokesman Wim van der Weegen said those sources include satellite imagery, radar details and data from the plane's "black box" recorders.

firstpost.com

Investigators have not visited the site in conflict-ravaged Ukraine where wreckage of the plane plunged to the ground on 17 July, though they do have photos, Van der Weegen said. The report will set out what investigators believe happened, but will not apportion blame.

irishexaminer.com

"What this investigation does is compare all these sources, and see whether they agree," he said. "The investigation is still in full swing and the definitive report will be released within a year, according to international civil aviation rules."

independent.ie

The remains of 12 victims of the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) MH17 tragedy were transferred on Wednesday morning to a morgue near the Schiphol International Airport before being brought back to Malaysia. Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong said the remains which were earlier kept at the Monuta Innemee funeral home in S-Gravenhage, were transferred at 9.45am today.

thesundaily.my

The Government has released the names of the 20 Malaysian victims on board downed Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH17 whose remains will arrive in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.

The announcement was made by Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein at KL International Airport’s Bunga Raya Complex here Thursday, after the final rehearsal for Friday's reception ceremony.

“As of yesterday, 30 Malaysian remains have been positively identified,” Liow said.

Malaysia said the remains of at least 21 victims from the MH17 plane crash will be arriving in Kuala Lumpur on Aug 22. It had earlier said it will repatriate 16 victims from the Netherlands.

channelnewsasia.com

"I have met with the Malaysian ambassador to Netherlands Datuk Dr. Fauziah Mohamad Taib and Malaysia Airlines Operations Service Department Vice President Datuk Bahrain Mohd Yatim on Saturday, and was briefed the latest development. I came to understand that there will be at least 21 bodies of Malaysian victims from the MH17 tragedy will be flown home from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on Aug 21st." - Datuk Dr. Wee Ka Siong

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"The bodies, 18 in caskets and three cremated remains in urns, will be flown home on a special flight which will depart at noon from Schipol International Airport here. This means the total number of bodies that will be flown home this Friday will exceed the projected 16." - Datuk Dr. Wee Ka Siong

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Malaysia's Minister in Prime Minister’s Department Wee Ka Siong said in a statement on Sunday (Aug 17) that the remains, in 18 caskets and three urns, will be flown home from Schipol International Airport at noon on Aug 21 (6pm Singapore time). “We are in the process of bringing more bodies of Malaysian victims for the flight home,” he said. “We are working hard to obtain the green light for one more body to be included in the first flight.” But he added: “We understand the procedures and regulations here in the Netherlands are rigorous and we need to respect that.”

channelnewsasia.com

"Before this, I have already met with some of the victims' family members here and reassured them that all effort would be made to ensure a smooth process. For the funeral rites and prayers prior to the departure of the bodies to Malaysia, we have also enlisted the aid of monks from the Fo Guang he Hua Temple in Amsterdam, who will provide volunteers from the temples in Portugal, Belgium and France." - Datuk Dr. Wee Ka Siong

facebook.com

"As for the sending off for the bodies from the Funeral Home to the airport on Aug 21st, the process will be done in a low-key manner. The bodies will be transported to the airport from the Funeral Home and depart for Malaysia at noon via a special flight. We all mourn for the lost souls. I hope , while in face with this difficult ordeal , all Malaysian irrespective of race and beliefs ; will put our spirits together and welcome back the Malaysian bodies with utmost respect." - Datuk Dr. Wee Ka Siong

facebook.com

The next of kin of the MH17 victims have been advised against viewing the remains because many of the bodies were not found in perfect condition, said Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim. She, however, stressed that the right to view the remains for the last time rested with the living relatives, who may do so if they wished.

“Our counsellors have advised the next of kin to not view the remains but if they insist, they can do so at the burial or cremation ground where their private ceremonies may be held. This is because the bodies are not in an ordinary state and perhaps it is best for the families to remember the departed in their most perfect memory,” Rohani said when met at the launch of the ministry’s Merdeka celebrations here yesterday.

themalaysianinsider.com

She said the remains to be sent home would be vacuum-packed before being laid in a sealed coffin. Prior to this, religious rites according to the beliefs of each family will be performed on the victims, such as the bathing of the body for Muslim remains. After the remains are given a ceremonial reception at the KL International Airport’s Bunga Raya Complex on Friday, they will be brought to their final resting place according to the wishes of the next of kin.

“Some have asked for the remains to be cremated, buried or sent to their homes. It is entirely up to the families. We have assigned caregivers and one counsellor to each family. They will continue to provide their services even after the remains have been laid to rest,” Rohani said.

msn.com

Malaysia has declared Aug 22 as a national day of mourning for victims of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, when the remains of 15 victims will be brought back to Malaysia on a special flight.

straitstimes.com

The remains of 16 Malaysian passengers are expected to arrive in the country on that date. However Muhyiddin said Aug 22 will not be declared as a public holiday.

therakyatpost.com

Ten of the 16 Malaysian victims of the crashed Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH17 have been identified to be non-Muslims, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tan Sri Joseph Kurup.

The remains of First Officer Muhammad Firdaus Abdul Rahim were among the 16 Malaysian victims of MH17 already identified. "We were informed that Muhammad Firdaus' remains were identified through DNA matching. We were also told that his family members would be taken to Amsterdam to accompany the victim's remains back to Malaysia," his uncle, Azman Ibrahim said.

Muhyiddin said the identities of the 15 would be revealed on Aug 22, but revealed six were Muslims. He also said that a Dutch victim would be flown to Malaysia. "The next-of-kin of the Dutch citizen requested for the remains to be cremated in Malaysia," he said.

Preliminary data from Malaysia Airlines flight MH17's black boxes will be obtained next week and is expected to facilitate the process of bringing to justice those reponsible for downing the aircraft over Ukraine last month, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said today.

The transport minister, however, said that investigations at the crash site were still ongoing and more information was needed before a report can be prepared.

The suspect who allegedly shot down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on July 17 in Ukraine will be charged in Malaysia as the aircraft was national property, says Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail.

msn.com

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has no jurisdiction to carry out any charges on the case as both Malaysia and the Netherlands have said they wished to take action against the culprits, Gani said in a recent interview at his office in Putrajaya. "In this case, Malaysia and Holland said they wanted to press charges, so the ICC has no jurisdiction over this," he told The Malaysian Insider.

themalaysianinsider.com

The country's top lawyer said Malaysia had made clear that it wished to bring the guilty parties to the country and charge them under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012, or Sosma. "Our stance is clear, Malaysia wants to charge them here under our Act. "We have our laws and we will use them. Otherwise, there is no point having parliamentarians and the Parliament to pass the act," he said.

themalaysianinsider.com

The government will announce details on the repatriation of Malaysian victims who perished in the MH17 tragedy next Thursday. Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, who chaired the first repatriation coordination meeting on MH17, said Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin will announce the appropriate details.

abnxcess.com

The investigation into the MH17 crash incident in eastern Ukraine has now reached 50% based on the evidence gathered at the crash site and accounts from eye-witnesses, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamid. He said besides the victim’s personal belongings, the international investigation team had also found the ill-fated plane’s cockpit at a poultry farm, near the crash site. “The preliminary investigation found shrapnels from the cockpit, but the investigation team will probably take three more weeks to remove the remnants of the aircraft from the crash site.”

themalaysianreserve.com

"As of now, 62 bodies have not been accounted for and the teams have started searching a lake located near the crash site as there could be a possibility that some victims might have been strewn into the lake," he told a news conference upon arriving from Ukraine on Wednesday.

Dutch and Australian divers have been deployed to search the depths of a lake near the crash site of Flight MH17 in Donetsk, Ukraine for the bodies of 62 people on board who remain unaccounted for, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today.

"About 10 divers, if I am not mistaken, from Australia and Netherlands, were deployed at 7.30am local time... which was about 12.30pm Malaysian time," he told a news conference at the airport here.

themalaymailonline.com

"Residents are being asked to locate remains and personal belongings. They are also being given the opportunity to tell what they saw or experienced during the disaster," the ministry said in a statement issued in The Hague. Flyers were distributed on Wednesday to villagers in Rozsypne, near where most of the wreckage was found, by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which is providing back up for the search.

msn.com

The team of specialists involved in the Disaster Victim Identification process for victims of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 are said to have conducted post-mortems on 150 complete bodies from the crash site. The minister added that, as of yesterday, aside from the "complete bodies" there were 300 body parts which have also been examined in the post-mortem process being undertaken in the town of Hilversum, in the Netherlands. He said the body parts were among 600 parts contained in 226 coffins that arrived from Ukraine.

The owner of the white Volvo truck that is said to have carried the BUK missile that reportedly shot down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 has provided new evidence in the investigation. According to the latest report, the evidence provided by this man indicates that pro-Russian rebels are involved in the missile strike.

ibtimes.com

According to the report, a video was recorded by Ukrainian officers showing the weapon in question being transported in a truck during the early morning hours of July 18, the day after the plane was shot down while it was travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. The video shows that at 4.50 am the missile was taken to Russia from Kransnodon city.

ibtimes.com

New evidence suggests pro-Russian rebels are responsible for the attack after the man, known only as Vasilijus, told Lithuanian website alfa.it the vehicle was stolen by them on July 8.

therakyatpost.com

"Yes, this is my vehicle," he confirmed. "Yes, of course. It is easy to recognise. We know our vehicles. Yes, it is ours. It is the only Volvo with such a cabin." "Do not reveal my name — I already have plenty of problems," he said, adding that he fears for his life. "My base in Donetsk was taken over and it was parked there. Yes, this is my vehicle. They came to our base and said they needed it." "Everyone left from the eighth (of July), and the base was under their control, including my equipment and that white truck."

ibtimes.co.uk

He added the pro-Russian rebels took over his business nine days before the flight was struck by a surface-to-air air missile, killing all 298 passengers and crew on board MH17. Vasiliy confirmed the "base" is still held by rebels and his crew have not returned since it was seized, but it is unclear what kind of work he is involved in.

ibtimes.co.uk

He could be a key witness to the investigation, considering he is one of the few people who could identify the rebels responsible for the attack.

ibtimes.co.uk

The joint team of Australian, Dutch and Malaysian officials were delayed and had only limited access to the crash site on Monday because of increased shelling and gunfire in nearby areas.

theguardian.com

The team of Malaysian policemen arrived safely at the MH17 crash site in Donetsk, Ukraine, to join the Dutch and Australian forces already there. Confirming this, Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the search and retrieval of evidence by the 21-man team was, however, delayed due to shelling taking place between separatists and the Ukrainian forces.

“The team, headed by Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, would wait until the situation was safer and more stable,” said Dr Ahmad Zahid, adding that the team, however, managed to search an area of 6sq km.

“On their way to the crash site, the team, which was heavily guarded by authorities, saw that there was a lot of destruction,” he said. "For their own safety, the separatists have not allowed the team to begin their search. The team is taking cover at an area by the roadside near the location,” he said.

DONETSK, Ukraine: Dutch and Australian police investigators completed a third day trawling through wreckage for more unrecovered remains of the 298 people killed when the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 passenger jet was blown out of the sky over separatist territory almost three weeks ago.

After days of fierce fighting prevented experts reaching the scene of the disaster, the Dutch-led probe has now bulked up to near full-strength with sniffer dogs and refrigerated ambulance vans brought in as they scramble to make up for lost time. "We have already searched one of the five zones that we have divided the crash site into," said Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, head of the Dutch police mission.

Search crews continue to turn up body parts and personal belongings scattered across some 20 sq km and those leading the probe say it could take some three more weeks despite 220 coffins already taken to the Netherlands for identification.

Another plane carrying an unspecified number remains will fly out of the government-held city of Kharkiv Monday.Aalbersberg told journalists in the city that a train wagon carrying victims' possessions was currently stuck at a rebel-held train station.

Malaysia's contribution to the investigation into the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 is likely to get under way tomorrow. Quoting Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Bernama reported that members of the Malaysian special investigation team are expected to enter the flight MH17 crash site in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, tomorrow to start their probe.

msn.com

"A combined task force in Kharkiv has decided that a Malaysian team of 21 people will be deployed to the forward operations base in Soledar, about a four-hour journey from Kharkiv, at 2pm (7pm, Malaysian time) today," Zahid was quoted as saying by Bernama.

msn.com

Two boats carrying white-clad colleagues of AIDS campaigners killed in the MH17 crash in Ukraine have marked a sombre start to the traditionally flamboyant Amsterdam Gay Pride parade.

themalaymailonline.com

Canal boats carrying around 50 AIDS campaigners on Saturday carried signs reading "Remembering our colleagues on MH17" and "Our work goes on. Together we can beat the virus".

sbs.com.au

Six AIDS campaigners and researchers, including top Dutch expert Joep Lange, were among the 298 people killed when the Malaysian airliner was shot down over Ukraine on July 17. They were headed from Amsterdam to an AIDS conference in Melbourne, Australia. A total of 193 Dutch people were killed in the crash.

inquirer.net

Meanwhile, international investigators began gathering body parts and belongings of victims on Friday in the fields where Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crashed in eastern Ukraine. The 70-member team of Dutch and Australian experts began the painstaking process of combing through a patch of scrubland, not far from the scene of fierce clashes between Ukrainian soldiers and pro-Russian separatist rebels.

Fighting in eastern Ukraine had earlier prevented investigators from reaching the scene of the crash which happened on July 17. Footage released by the OSCE investigators showed seatbelts and shoes strewn across the fields. Officials said they expect to continue their recovery work on Saturday with detector dogs and other high-tech gear set to arrive to assist in the operation.

malaysiandigest.com

The remains of at least 80 people are believed to still lay unrecovered at the crash site. Evidence discovered on the scene is first identified and then photographed by searchers. They are then put into bags by recovery workers wearing protective clothing and gloves.

sbs.com.au

Investigators say recovered remains will be put in refrigerated train carriages on Saturday and taken to the nearby city of Kharkiv before being flown to the Netherlands for examination and identification.

theguardian.com

The Transport Ministry will soon announce the details on the funeral arrangements of Malaysian victims in the flight MH17 tragedy, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong.

themalaysianinsider.com

He said this was because the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) process was still underway and would take some time to be completed.

themalaysianinsider.com

He added that he and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Joseph Kurup were still holding discussions with the families of victims who are non-Muslims. "We are looking for the best ways for the funerals because they have their respective religions and not all Chinese are Buddhists. Thus the consent of the next-of-kin is needed," he told a press conference here today,

themalaysianinsider.com

The Government will declare a day of mourning when the first of the bodies of Malaysian victims in the MH17 tragedy are flown home, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Explosions rang out near the crash site of downed flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine on Thursday as international investigators arrived for the first time in nearly a week after Kiev announced a one-day halt to its offensive against rebels.

themalaysianinsider.com

"Monitors reach MH17 crash site for 1st time in almost week, accompanied by 4 Dutch, Australian experts. Used new route to access," the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe's monitoring mission in charge of facilitating the international probe wrote on Twitter.

Experts recovered more human remains at the Malaysia Airlines plane crash site in eastern Ukraine, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said today. “The team that had gone in... had been onto the site and had exited the site and, as I understand it, had recovered some more remains,” Abbott told reporters in Sydney.

It was reported earlier today that the global team of investigators probing into the downing of MH17 was been unable to access the crash site at Donetsk, Ukraine, because of unsafe conditions, including the possibility of landmines.

msn.com

Pro-Russian rebels have booby-trapped the MH17 crash site with landmines, according to Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, making it impossible for international investigators to access the scene of the crash.

freemalaysiatoday.com

Around 70 coffins containing the remains of MH17 victims within body bags have been opened and examined by disaster victim identification (DVI) experts as of Wednesday, said Health Minister Datuk Seri S. Subramaniam.

Dr Subramaniam said the ministry had gathered all fingerprints, DNA and dental records of the 43 Malaysians on board MH17. He said the records had been completed last week while the fingerprints were gathered from the Home Ministry and the Registration Department. "All the records, data, were uploaded to Interpol investigation system in Netherlands for ante-mortem," he said.

themalaysianinsider.com

Malaysia has made preparations to receive the remains of Malaysian victims in the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash at the KL International Airport (KLIA) Bunga Raya Complex in Sepang yesterday. During a survey by Bernama, hearses were seen on standby outside the complex while military personnel from the Royal Malay Regiment in full uniform carried the coffins before these were accorded the last respect. Several tents were also being set up.

According to an official involved in the process, the early preparation was aimed at ensuring a smooth arrival of the remains of the Malaysian victims. “Today (yesterday) is only a rehearsal to receive the remains,” he said. “It is still in the planning stage and not finalised yet. There are a few things to iron out and a meeting will be held tomorrow (today) to discuss the matter further,” he added.

The remains of 43 Malaysians from the airliner are expected to arrive in the country in three weeks.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak arrives in the Netherlands today to meet his counterpart Mark Rutte to discuss efforts to secure full and safe access to the MH17 crash site in eastern Ukraine. Malaysian Ambassador to the Netherlands Datuk Fauziah Mohd Taib said Najib would meet Rutte at his office in The Hague.

There will be a brief joint press conference by the two prime ministers, and Najib will sign the condolence book opened by the Dutch government. “He (Najib) wants to know the progress of the disaster victim identification (DVI) at Hilversum,” Fauziah told reporters here.

She said Najib would also be briefed about the DVI process that was ongoing at the medical military base. She said he would speak to DVI leader, Arie de Bruin, who would also be accompanied by at least three Malaysian DVI members. “From there, we will be able to gauge when we can have the (Malaysian) bodies back, whether in weeks or months,” she said.

Fauziah said Najib, accompanied by his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, will also lay a wreath at Hilversum before meeting de Bruin. She said Najib and Rutte would also discuss further cooperation between the two nations, given that safe access to the crash site had still not been secured for the international investigation team.

Witnesses have uploaded 150 photos and videos to a Dutch police server set up to help piece together the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over east Ukraine, a spokeswoman said.

nst.com.my

The police issued an online appeal last week for images of the crash site—before, during and after—to aid a reconstruction of events. From the server opening last Friday evening to noon yesterday, 150 images were uploaded via portals in four different languages: Dutch, English, Russian and Ukrainian, spokeswoman Franki Klarenbeek told AFP. And more are coming in.

themalaymailonline.com

“We don’t know yet where the images are from, but we do know they were uploaded via all four language portals,” said Klarenbeek. The online appeal had been “aimed specifically at people in the disaster zone“, according to the website.

nst.com.my

A Health Ministry team, led by its Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam, is heading to Amsterdam in the Netherlands to aid the Disaster Victim Indentification (DVI) process to enable speedier repatriation of the remains of Malaysian victims who perished in the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 tragedy.

The team would discuss with its Dutch counterparts and other related experts in seeking various options to resolve whatever hitches, if any, during the course of the DVI process, he said in a statement issued by the ministry on Tuesday (July 29).

channelnewsasia.com

He said there were currently, 21 medical and odontology forensic experts and officers from the health and defence ministries, police and chemistry department assisting the Dutch authorities in Amsterdam. "In order to further facilitate this process and the subsequent repatriation of the human remains to Malaysia, I will be part of the prime minister's multi-ministerial delegation to Amsterdam to lead my team," added Dr Subramaniam.

thesundaily.my

He said the ante-mortem procedure, which was carried out earlier in Malaysia by the medical and odontology forensic experts among the next-of-kin, is part of the DVI process to consolidate and enable the matching process needed to accurately identify the crash victims.

channelnewsasia.com

In compliance with the Importation and Exportation of Human Remains, Human Tissues and Pathogenic Organisms and Substances Regulation 2006, all prior arrangements are also being made to facilitate the entry of human remains back into Malaysia.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Tuesday asked Belarus to host talks between Russian and Ukrainian envoys to discuss access to the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH17 crash site in eastern Ukraine.

"Petro Porochenko contacted Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko to offer to cooperate on organising a meeting in Minsk" on Thursday between Ukrainian ex-president Leonid Kuchma, Russian ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov and a representative of the European security body OSCE, the Ukrainian presidency said in a statement.

globalpost.com

The talks in the Belarus capital would address "access by international experts to the site of the crash of Malaysia Airlines," it said.

globalpost.com

The Security Council last week adopted the Australian-backed resolution condemning the downing of the passenger plane that left 298 dead, demanding that all military operations cease and calling for a full investigation. "Continued military activity by Ukrainian forces in the vicinity of the crash site is clearly not compatible with the resolution that the Security Council has adopted," Russia's envoy to the United Nations accused Ukraine of violating a key Security Council resolution with its campaign to seize control of the crash site of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH17.

Data from the black box flight recorders of Flight MH17 show it was destroyed by shrapnel from a missile strike that caused a "massive explosive decompression", a Ukrainian official said yesterday. Andriy Lysenko, spokesman for Ukraine's Security Council, told a news conference in Kiev the information came from experts analysing the recorders from the plane that came down in rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine on July 17.

International investigators "indicated that data from flight recorders show that the reason for the destruction and crash of the plane was massive explosive decompression arising from multiple shrapnel perforations from a rocket explosion," Andriy Lysenko, spokesman for Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, said.

Meanwhile, the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 may constitute a war crime, the UN said Monday, as explosions and fighting blocked a new attempt by Dutch and Australian police to reach the crash site in insurgent-held east Ukraine. The unarmed international mission was forced to turn around as heavy bombardment rocked towns close to the site, where the remains of some of the 298 victims still lie more than 10 days after the disaster.

International investigators failed to reach the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 for a third day in a row Monday, leaving Dutch officials at a loss on how to recover the remaining bodies and gather intelligence on what caused the incident.

After taking off from rebel-controlled Donetsk on Monday morning, a team of 26 Dutch and 11 Australian forensic experts had to turn around 19 miles (30 kilometers) from the crash site, near the town of Molodetske, said Jean Fransman, a spokesman for the Justice Ministry. On Sunday, the team's motorcade had come as close as just over a mile to the site.

heraldsun.com.au

"On Monday, the team heard explosions and were warned by local citizens that there was fighting going on," Dick Schoof, national director for security and counterterrorism, told the Dutch Parliament in The Hague. The team's operational leader, Col. Kees Kuijs, then decided to return to Donetsk. "The experts and I are very disappointed that we again didn't succeed to make it to the crash site," the team's head of mission, Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, said. "It's frustrating for them to wait so long before they can go to work."

Heavy shelling was heard Sunday just one kilometre away from rebel-held Grabove, the village next to the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in east Ukraine. Terrified local residents were fleeing, and black smoke could be seen near the crash site, said the photographer, adding that checkpoints controlled by rebels were abandoned.

Dutch and Australian police who were planning to head to the crash site on Sunday have had to scrap their trip over security concerns, a OSCE spokesman said. "There is fighting going on. We can't take the risk. The security situation on the way to the site and on the site itself is unacceptable for our unarmed observer mission," said Alexander Hug, deputy chief monitor of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's special mission in Ukraine.

theguardian.com

People of various beliefs held a special multi-faith prayer session in memory of the passengers and crew of the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17. In a sombre event, Muslims, Christians, Sikh, Buddhists, Taoists, and Hindus offered their prayers to the untimely death of 298 passengers and crew of the plane that was shot down in Ukraine on July 17.

Malaysia is continuing to press for safe and unrestricted access to the MH17 crash site in eastern Ukraine, more than a week after the tragedy. Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the site was still not safe for our investigators to conduct their work.

“We do not want (the evidence at) the site to be tampered with and we want full access to the site. I would like to thank the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe) for giving us the assistance and arranging a special path for our investigators to access the site. This is only the preliminary stage of the investigations and there will be more to come,” he told reporters after arriving at the KL International Airport yesterday evening after spending five days in Ukraine’s capital of Kiev and Amsterdam.

Five countries, called the "coalition of the grieving”, are expected to bring in forces to secure the 50-square-kilometre site in eastern Ukraine where Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed, the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) reported.

themalaysianinsider.com

The multinational force is expected to be led by the Dutch, who lost 193 nationals in the bringing down of the plane, while Australia could serve in the deputy role. Malaysia, Germany and Britain are the other three nations that are expected to contribute to the security force, with Malaysia having lost 43 people in the tragedy.

smh.com.au

SMH reported that Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is in Ukraine, working on a memorandum of understanding with Ukraine and the Dutch that would allow a multinational force to secure the site. The force, the report said, is being assembled together with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which already has people at the crash site.

themalaysianinsider.com

Once operating, it will allow Australian officials freedom of movement in the Ukraine, allow them to work with local authorities and allow equipment and supplies to brought into the country. It will also cover legal matters such as liability.

smh.com.au

International officials have told Fairfax Media that the United States said that it was prepared to contribute if asked, but the Dutch and Australians have decided not to ask for an American contribution.

msn.com

Federal police are considering sending an elite squad to Ukraine as part of the international team to secure the Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 crash site. This move follows the call by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin to the countries directly affected by the incident.

themalaymailonline.com

An official from Bukit Aman said police were considering all technical aspects and possibilities of sending a team there. “Arrangements are being made to have a team on standby here first. Several high-ranking officers are to be put in charge of selecting this team,” the official said. “This is not something that can be decided on in a short period of time because there are many details to consider.”

The official said all decisions pertaining to this would come directly from Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar’s office. Bukit Aman has already sent a team of 20 officers to assist with forensic investigations together with several Unit Tindakan Khas (UTK) personnel. “The UTK was sent as security for the Malaysian officials there,” he said.

themalaymailonline.com

The Cabinet Ministers' Hari Raya open house at Seri Perdana has been cancelled as mark of respect to the victims of flight MH17 and their families. Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong said that the decision to call off the event was made at the Cabinet meeting on Thursday. The open house is traditionally held on the first day of Syawal.

Russia will cooperate with the investigation into the downing of a Malaysian airliner a week ago and is satisfied that the Netherlands, rather than Ukraine, is leading the effort, the country's ambassador to Malaysia said on Thursday.

reuters.com

Liudmila Vorobyeva also rejected suggestions that the pro-Russian separatists blamed by Western governments for shooting down flight MH17 possessed a Russian-made anti-aircraft missile, and said the rebels lacked the training to use such a system.

themalaysianinsider.com

The norm under rules set down by the United Nation's civil aviation body (ICAO) is that an air investigation is led by the state in whose territory the plane crash, but Russia had said that Ukraine should not take charge because the rebels who control the crash site did not trust the authorities in Kiev.

"We want an international investigation led by ICAO. Any country part of ICAO may take part. Netherlands has the right to lead this," the ambassador told Reuters in an interview in Kuala Lumpur. "We are members of ICAO, we will cooperate with the investigation."

Vorobyeva said Russian experts were already participating in the investigation, although she did not say what role they were playing. Russia has not been asked to act as an intermediary with the rebels, who the United States and Ukraine's pro-Western government says are armed by Moscow, Vorobyeva said.

reuters.com

The bodies of the first victims from a Malaysian airliner shot down over Ukraine last week arrived on Wednesday at a military base in the Netherlands – a nation in shock and sorrow. The process will be repeated many times over coming days as the bodies of all the victims are brought home.

freemalaysiatoday.com

Once the bodies of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 passengers and crew arrive in Netherlands, forensic experts will begin identifying the remains – a grim task that has been likened to a “giant jigsaw puzzle”, the Australian edition of The Guardian reported today. It will be an international effort with Dutch and Australian forensic teams relying on DNA, dental records and personal characteristics to help them.

themalaysianinsider.com

The scanning and tagging process of the remains of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH17 victims is expected to be completed on Friday. National Security Council (MKN) principal assistant secretary Left Col Mohd Sakri Hussain said forensic experts from Malaysia, Netherlands and Australia have screened the bodies in more than two refrigerated coaches on Wednesday.

MAS said it would take the necessary steps for the families to head to the Netherlands should they insist on going. “Whilst we do not encourage next-of-kin to go to Amsterdam to view the remains of their loved ones, we will make arrangements for close family members to travel if they so wish,” said Khairunnisak, in a brief text message. “This is because, they may be anguished by the long wait for the remains to be positively identified whilst waiting in Amsterdam.”

"We urge the search to continue for those who are still missing and pledge to exhaust all efforts to recover all human remains," the Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said in a statement Wednesday. "Our goal now is to unite those who have perished with their families and loved ones as fast as possible while allowing investigators to continue their work at the crash site," he said.

The black boxes recovered from the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash site have arrived in Britain and have been handed to investigators, it has been confirmed. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said the flight recorders have been delivered to their headquarters in Farnborough, Hampshire on Wednesday, where experts will attempt to retrieve crucial data from them.

independent.co.uk

Officials who examined the Cockpit Voice Recorder say it "was damaged but the memory module was intact." They report seeing no evidence of manipulation, according to the Dutch. Its data, they say, was successfully downloaded and contains "valid data" from the flight's cockpit.

mashable.com

Investigators say the analysis of the two black boxes will take several weeks. On Thursday, the AAIB plans to examine the Flight Data Recorder, the second of the boxes. The data will then be combined.

mashable.com

The AAIB, a branch of the Department for Transport, is "taking the data off and feeding that into the international investigation," a DfT spokesman said. "They expect it to take up to 24 hours per box. It may be less, it may be more if they find damage to the boxes, for example. "It's under way already."

themalaysianinsider.com

Former aircraft accident investigator Tony Cable told the BBC: "The cockpit voice recorder could conceivably record the sound of shrapnel hitting the aircraft from the missile, which is assumed to be the cause, possibly followed by the sound of the warhead then exploding."

themalaysianinsider.com

The Dewan Rakyat has unanimously approved a motion tabled by the Prime Minister condemning the "inhumane, uncivilised, violent and irresponsible" action of shooting down Malaysia Airline flight MH17.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak today called for a comprehensive probe into the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, which was believed shot down in eastern Ukraine killing all 298 passengers and crew on board, last Thursday. In tabling a five-paragraph motion in a specially convened session of Parliament, Najib called for the investigations to be led by an international independent body.

abnxcess.com

“The august House also demands that a comprehensive investigation be carried out so that those believed to be responsible for this crime against humanity through the shooting down of MH17 are immediately brought to justice,” he said to thumps of approval from the members of Parliament.

Najib voiced his anger and disappointment over the fact that the crash site was not immediately secured according to international practices, leading to a loss of and tainted evidence as well as protection of the remains of the deceased. He assured the families of the victims that Malaysia would continue to seek the truth. “Let us walk through this difficult time together, united in sorrow,” added Najib.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said Najib had relied purely on wisdom to convince self-styled rebel leader Alexander Borodei to return both, without any impetus for cooperation from the latter. “There was no deal made, as far as I was informed by the prime minister,” he said in response to an interjection by PKR’s Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tsin when winding up points raised during the debate on MH17.

themalaymailonline.com

Relatives of those on board the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 were in for a rude shock when calls to the victims' mobile phones were answered, the Sydney Morning Herald reported today.

themalaysianinsider.com

Quoting the Dutch paper De Telegraaf, SMH reported relatives calling the mobile phones of their loved ones only to have it answered by people who sounded "eastern European".

msn.com

The possibility of calls made from the victims' phones will not likely be of any concern for the loved ones they leave behind as the telecommunication companies in the various countries have mostly agreed to cancel the subscriptions without a need for a death certificate, as is usually required. But the bigger issue, as reported previously, that there was widespread looting at the crash site has now been proven beyond doubt.

themalaysianinsider.com

Monitors from the European security body OSCE and Malaysian inspectors yesterday found parts of the fuselage of the downed Malaysian flight MH17 with "significant puncture marks", the OSCE said.

themalaysianinsider.com

"Some of the materials we saw and have photographed, feature significant puncture marks to the fuselage, almost a piercing mark," said Michael Bociurkiw, a spokesman for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe's special mission to Ukraine.

msn.com

These parts "were looked at by the Malaysians and I can say that these parts were of very great interest to them," he said, adding that the team had also spotted human remains still lying at the crash site.

themalaysianinsider.com

Dutch experts on Tuesday prepared to fly out bodies recovered from downed Malaysian flight MH17, as Europe moved to punish Russia for fanning the rebellion in eastern Ukraine that it believes led to the crash.

A train carrying the remains of the victims arrived in the government-held Ukrainian city of Kharkiv five days after the jet was brought down, But that was only the first leg of the long journey home for many of the 298 crash victims, with the bodies to be flown on Wednesday first to the Netherlands, which had 193 citizens aboard the doomed flight and is taking the lead in investigating the disaster.

msn.com

But Dutch experts now in possession of the corpses said Tuesday they had only counted 200 on the morgue train. "We are sure of having 200 bodies and body parts, that is all that I know," said Jan Tuinder, the head of the Dutch delegation told journalists.

thesundaily.my

International monitors on Tuesday said body parts still lay scattered at eastern Ukraine's unsecured crash site of downed flight MH17, as Dutch experts said they were given 80 fewer corpses than promised by the rebels.

ndtv.com

It would also be the start of a complex investigation, and the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, warned that identification of the bodies alone could take months as experts from the Netherlands said they were only sure 200 bodies had been delivered so far.

thenational.ae

Malaysian officials have handed over the black boxes from Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 to Dutch lead investigators of the crash in rebel-held Ukraine, the Netherlands government said. "The black boxes from flight MH17 have been handed over by Malaysian experts to the Dutch Safety Board (OVV) that is leading the international investigation," AFP reports the Foreign Ministry as saying.

msn.com

"Experts from several countries, including the OVV, will travel with the black boxes to Farnborough to help with the investigation," the ministry said. Exceptionally, the Dutch are in charge of the investigation, because Kiev does not have authority over the rebel-held crash site.

channelnewsasia.com

Anything contained in the recordings from the black boxes on flight MH17 would be ‘absolutely useless’, according to experts. Stewart John, past president of the Royal Aeronautical Society, said: ‘The most you’re going to get is an explosion, and there’s nothing in my mind that could prove useful.’

freemalaysiatoday.com

Malaysia has sent a three-man expert team to investigate the Malaysia Airlines MH17 crash site after getting assurances about their safety there. Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the government received assurances from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on the team's safety.

straitstimes.com

They are Department of Civil Aviation senior assistant directors Capt Philip Joseph Selvaraju, 42, and Mohd Naemy Fahimy Mustapa, 38, and Malaysia Airlines engineering director Azahari Dahlan, 53.

Malaysia's three-man team at the MH17 crash site observed Tuesday afternoon how intense heat from the accident had caused the plane's wings to melt. Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) spokesman for the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine Michael Bociurkiw told reporters that this was due to the wings being made of aluminium. "The Malaysian experts, they observed the heat from the impact was so intense it actually melted the wings," he said at the Park Inn Hotel here.

He noted however that the Malaysians definitely noticed signs of ongoing fighting between the rebels and the Ukrainian Army, far from the crash sites. The OSCE also noticed that emergency recovery personnel were absent from the site, and that tents set up in the area for this purpose had been packed away.

Malaysia has sent 18 Disaster Victim Identification personnel to Kharkiv, Ukraine, to assist in sending the remains of the MH17 victims to the Netherlands, said Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai. In a brief statement, Liow said the personnel would help in tagging and transferring the bodies to a Dutch military plane.

The bodies and belongings of the victims of flight MH17 have been looted, the leader of the rebels controlling the crash site admitted on Monday. Alexander Borodai, the prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, said that looters “can be found everywhere” and promised to punish any he found.

freemalaysiatoday.com

Borodai told reporters: “I don’t exclude certain cases of looting. Sons of bitches can be found everywhere. We are now investigating. Those who are guilty would be severely punished.” There was evidence that other rebels were guarding the site and trying to protect the scene.

freemalaysiatoday.com

The reports of stolen property were backed up by self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic Alexander Borodai who said local residents may have used victims’ credit cards, NBC News reported.

news.com.au

Witnesses have reported seeing separatists pocketing valuables and electronic equipment from the site, while Ukraine government officials have claimed that “terrorist death hunters” have been collecting victims’ cash and jewellery.

A Telegraph correspondent saw empty wallets and open purses strewn on the ground. There were also unconfirmed reports on social media that smartphones and jewellery had appeared on local market stalls. Families of British victims were urgently cancelling their loved ones’ credit cards and mobile phone accounts.

A train carrying the remains of most of the almost 300 victims of the Malaysia Airlines plane downed over Ukraine left the site on Monday, after the Malaysian Prime Minister reached a deal with the leader of pro-Russian separatists controlling the area.

Bound for the city of Kharkiv, the train's departure from the crash site is likely to bring a small amount of respite to relatives, after a chaotic and controversial clear-up mission complicated by a military conflict rumbling nearby, the summer heat and what at times has appeared to be deliberate obstruction.

theguardian.com

Najib said he had earlier this evening spoken to Alexander Borodai, the commander of the pro-Russian separatists which control the region where the tragedy occurred, and reached an agreement which would pave the way for the return of the dead and provide safe passage to investigators, as well as the return of the two black boxes to Malaysia.

msn.com

Najib said the remains of the 282 people, currently in Torez wil be moved by train to Kharkiv where representatives from Netherlands will take possession of them. “The train will depart this evening Ukraine time, and will be accompanied by six Malaysian members of the recovery team. The remains will then be flown to Amsterdam on board a Dutch C130 Hercules, together with the Malaysian team. "Following any necessary forensic work, the remains of Malaysian citizens will then be flown home to Malaysia,” he said.

msn.com

DONETSK: Malaysian officials have received the two MH17 black boxes from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) on Tuesday in Ukraine.

A signing ceremony was held to hand over the black boxes by separatist leader Alexander Borodai. It could not be immediately ascertained where the black boxes would be taken to though it is believed it will brought back here as soon as possible.

nst.com.my

At 6.11am, DPR representatives showed up at their government headquarters here with the Malaysian government representatives. Speaking to the press, DPR leader Alexander Borodai thanked Malaysia and the Netherlands for sending teams here on Monday to resolve the MH17 matter. "(Our) thanks to Malaysia and Netherlands for coming here without protection or help from Kiev (the Ukrainian government)," he said, according to a rough translation by a local.

"Here they are, the black boxes," Boroday told reporters. “According to the memorandum the Malaysian side must pass on the boxes to the experts from the ICAO [International Civil Aviation Organization].” Both sides signed a document, finalizing the procedure.

Special investigation team chef de mission Khairil Hilmi Mokhtar confirmed the handing over without elaborating. However, sources said the black boxes appeared to be in good condition. "There is not much damage to the outer casing and we are confident that the data has not been tampered with or damaged."

nst.com.my

Kiev on Monday agreed that the Dutch should lead the investigation into the downing of a Malaysia Airlines jet in east Ukraine, and added it was ready to “send all bodies to Amsterdam”.

channelnewsasia.com

"We are ready for the Netherlands to take upon itself the coordination of the international investigation as the country that suffered the most," Yatsenyuk said.

india.com

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Monday said "all political, economic and financial options" were on the table if access to the crash site did not improve. "It is clear that Russia must use her influence on the separatists to improve the situation on the ground," Rutte said.

channelnewsasia.com

Dutch investigators on Monday inspected bodies recovered from downed passenger airliner MH17, which had been loaded onto a train under rebel control not far from the crash site, an AFP reporter said.

Each of the train wagons carrying the corpses was opened and examined by two men wearing masks and headlights. The stench from the wagon was overpowering and, contrary to claims that the carriages were refrigerated, there was little sign that the remains in black body bags were being chilled.

Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai arrived in Kiev on 20 July at 13.10 local time, accompanied by the Director-General of the Department of Civil Aviation Malaysia and the Chairman of Malaysia Airlines. A Malaysian team of 133 officials and experts, comprising of search and recovery personnel, forensics experts, technical and medical experts arrived in Kiev on Saturday morning local time.

facebook.com

A Joint International Investigation Team, which includes officials from the Netherlands, Malaysia, Britain’s AAIB and the United States’ NTSB, has been established.

facebook.com

The Ukrainian government has informed the Joint International Investigation Team that the crash site is under the full control of separatist groups. The Ukrainian Government has stated that it has been unable to establish a safe corridor to the crash site for the international team. The Ukrainian Government has said it cannot guarantee the safety of the international team in and around the crash site.

facebook.com

The only international body that has so far managed to briefly access to the crash site is the OSCE. Malaysia is deeply concerned that the international team is effectively being prevented from entering the crash site. It is imperative that international investigators and search and recovery personnel are afforded full and unhindered access to this site. Malaysia demands that all human remains must be allowed to be recovered, identified and repatriated.

facebook.com

Regarding reports that separatist groups have custody of the black boxes, Malaysia insists that these crucial pieces of evidence are not tampered with and are handed over to the international team. Despite reported comments by the leader of a separatist group that his group has not interfered with the crash site, Malaysia is very concerned that the sanctity of the crash site has been severely compromised

facebook.com

Malaysia demands immediate and unrestricted access to the crash site and guaranteed safety for its officials and those of the international team.

facebook.com

Rescuers found 251 bodies and 86 fragments of bodies by late on Sunday at the crash site of a Malaysian airliner and a second train with refrigerator wagons to take the remains away has arrived, a Ukrainian government committee said.

straitstimes.com

The bodies are thought to be contained in four refrigerator wagons - and they are now the grisly focus of an international tug of war over the fate of the MH-17 disaster. Many of the bodies had lain for two days before being collected, watched over by men of the rebel Donetsk People's Republic.

Rebels say that 196 bodies are on the train – a figure that observers call "unconfirmed". That leaves 102 unaccounted for – perhaps simply unnoticed, perhaps burnt up in the blast that brought the jet down.

independent.ie

Putrajaya today demanded that the remains of the MH17 victims be removed to a safe location before Hari Raya Aidilfitri comes around this July 28. “We don’t want them to be put in places that we don’t know. They must be brought out before Aidilfitri,” Najib said in his speech at a breaking of fast event here. “For those who are identified as Malaysians, we want to bring them back to Malaysia so they can be buried on home soil,” he added.

Pro-Russian rebels are keeping the remains of nearly 200 MH17 victims in refrigerated train cars, Vice Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said Sunday, adding that talks were ongoing for their release.

We were able to peer inside of the cars, and it definitely was refrigerated. There was no way we could verify the count of ... bodies, but there were dozens and dozens there," he told CNN. "We were told those railway cars will remain stationary until international experts arrive."

Separatist rebel leader Alexander Borodai said Sunday that bodies recovered from the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash site in eastern Ukraine would remain in refrigerated train cars at a station in the rebel-held town of Torez, 9 miles away, until the arrival of an international aviation delegation.

aljazeera.com

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is set to retire flight number MH17 out of respect for the crew and passengers who were perished in the ill-fated flight that was reportedly shot down by separatist.

“In light of the recent incident, Malaysia Airlines’ Amsterdam (AMS) – Kuala Lumpur (KUL) service, MH17 flight number will be retired out of respect for our crew and passengers of the mentioned flight code. There are no changes to the frequency of our services and we will continue to operate daily services between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur,” said the press statement sent by MAS on Sunday.

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The new flight number replacing MH17 will be MH19 and this will take into effect on July 25.

Searchers for the Ukrainian government have found 196 bodies at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, the State Emergency Service reported Sunday. The government agency said the search was being "complicated by armed separatists at the site who hinder the work of SES units."

It said that 380 official staff are taking part in the search for the 298 passengers who were on board MH17, over an area stretching across 34 square kilometers (13 square miles) of eastern Ukraine. The situation at the crash site showed small signs of improvement a day after international observers had described a confusing scene.

Michael Bociurkiw, a spokesman for observers from of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, said that the group saw men moving an unknown number of body bags on Saturday, but that it wasn't clear who they were. It's hard to get reliable information because several groups of pro-Russian rebels, some of them masked, control the area, according to Bociurkiw. "There doesn't seem to be one commander in charge," Bociurkiw said.

Rebels are suspected of shooting down the plane with a Russian-made surface-to-air missile on Thursday. Three air crash investigators from Ukraine accompanied the OSCE observers but didn't have much time to do their work, he said. "They need a lot more time and a lot more freedom of access," Bociurkiw said.

Amid concerns that recovery of the 298 victims aboard crashed Malaysia Airlines flight 17 isn’t happening fast enough, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he urged Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday to influence pro-Russian rebels who control the crash area to allow full access “as soon as possible,” CNN reported.

theblaze.com

Nearly two-thirds of the jetliner’s passengers, which took off from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur before crashing on Thursday, were Dutch. Rutte said in a statement that he told Putin it’s “absolutely necessary” to make recovery of the victims the “very first priority.”

The prime minister added a disturbing observation to the already emotional crisis. “I am shocked by the images of totally disrespectful behavior at this tragic site,” Rutte said. “Against all rules of careful investigation it seems that there are people who are rummaging through the personal and recognizable belongings of the victims. This is downright disgusting.”

jamestownsun.com

Rutte told reporters his conversation with Putin was “very intense” and that he told the Russian leader that “the opportunity expires to show the world” that he is “serious about helping.”

firstpost.com

The nationalities of all the passengers on board MH17 have been identified. The airline, in a statement yesterday, said it was now working closely with the respective embassies to notify the next of kin of the passengers.

According to the airline, there were 193 passengers from the Netherlands (including one with dual Dutch and US citizenship), 43 Malaysians (including 15 crew and two infants), 27 Australians, 12 Indonesians (including one infant), 10 from Britain (including one with dual British and South African citizenship), four each from Germany and Belgium, three from the Philippines, one from Canada and one from New Zealand.

asianewsnet.net

“Our focus now is to work with the emergency responders and authorities and mobilise its full support to provide all possible care to the next-of-kin. “Our thoughts and prayers are with all affected passengers and crew and their family members. “The airline will provide regular updates on the situation,” it said in a statement. Next of kin can contact +603 7884 1234 (Malaysia) or +31703487770 (Netherlands).

Malaysia Airlines is appealing to the family members or friends of those on board MH17 to contact the airline. The airline released a media statement at 7.30pm Saturday as follows: IN THE the past 45 hours, the airline together with various foreign embassies have made every effort to establish contact with the next-of-kin but is still unable to identify many more family members. They are advised to contact Malaysia Airlines' Family Support Centre at +603 7884 1234 (in Malaysia).

Alternatively the family or friends may call the numbers below in their respective countries: Netherlands (Malaysia Airlines Amsterdam office): +31 20 521 6252, Australia (Malaysia Airlines Sydney office): +61 2 9364 3534, Indonesia (Malaysia Airlines Jakarta office): +62 2 1522 9705, New Zealand (Malaysia Airlines Auckland office): +64 9 306 3930, United Kingdom (Malaysia Airlines London office): +44 20 7341 2060, Germany (Malaysia Airlines Frankfurt office): +49 69 1387 1980, and Philippines (Malaysia Airlines Manila office): +63 2 889 1863.

bernama.com.my

Meanwhile, Malaysia Airlines deployed a ferry flight last night mobilizing 212 personnel from various government and media bodies and its staff to Kiev and Amsterdam in a special mission for MH17. A total of 85 Malaysia Airlines' 'Go Team' members have been deployed, of which five members will join Malaysia's Special Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (Smart) in the search-and-recovery mission at the crash site in the Donetsk region.

Eighty other members comprising care givers and the management team will be stationed in Amsterdam to assist the family members of the passengers. MH5002 departed Kuala Lumpur at 9.30pm on 19 July 2014 and arrived in Kiev at 2.58am (local time) on 20 July 2014 with a two hour transit. The aircraft then continued its journey to Amsterdam at 4.50am (local time) on 20 July 2014 and arrived in Schipol Amsterdam Airport at 5.30am the same day.

bernama.com.my

The mission is also joined by Malaysia's Ministry of Transport, the National Security Council, Special Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (Smart), Malaysia's Department of Information, the Royal Malaysian Police, Malaysian Special Air Service, the Royal Malaysian Air Force, Malaysian Armed Forces, Department of Civil Aviation, Chemistry Department, Department of Islamic Advancement of Malaysia and the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team as well as participating media.

ibtimes.com

Finally, Malaysia Airlines requests the cooperation of members of the media to respect the privacy of the grieving families. The airline's top priority remains to provide care and assistance to the families of the passengers and crew and any information with regards to their movement will not be made public.

The special Malaysia investigation team sent to assist with the discovery and identification of victims from the crashed Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH17 arrived at the Kiev International Airport here at 4am (Kiev local time) Saturday. “I hope the process will run smoothly for the investigation team,” delegation head Khairil Hilmi Mokhtar told Malaysian journalists upon arrival at the airport here Saturday.

The 131-member team, which included police forensic officers, Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team and medical officials, left Kuala Lumpur on Friday night on a chartered flight. Khairil Hilmi, who is also National Security Council Cross Border Management Division principal assistant secretary, said several issues needed to be discussed since the crash site was located 500km from Kiev.

therakyatpost.com

Yesterday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had vowed to find out precisely what caused flight MH17 to crash in Ukraine on Thursday although the Ukranian authorities believed the commercial airplane was shot down.

theborneopost.com

Rescue workers have so far recovered 181 bodies scattered over a vast area in eastern Ukraine even as pro-Russia rebels on Friday said they have recovered the black boxes from the wreckage of the Malaysian plane blown up by a missile, killing all 298 people on board.

The ministry cited local emergency workers at the site for the numbers on Friday (July 18). It said the bodies will be taken to Kharkiv, a government-controlled city 270 kilometers north of the crash site, for identification. The Ukrainian government and the pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country have blamed each other for the alleged shooting down of the plane.

ndtv.com

Meanwhile, the latest breakdown of known nationalities of those on board is as follows: 173 from the Netherlands, 44 Malaysians, 27 Australians, 12 Indonesians, 9 from the United Kingdom, 4 Germans, 4 Belgians, 3 Filipinos, 1 Canadian and 1 New Zealander.

facebook.com

Malaysia Airlines is in the process of notifying the next of kin of those on board. Once all families have been contacted, the passenger manifest will be released. In addition, Malaysia Airlines will release the cargo manifest later today. Responsibility for releasing further information about the investigation rests with the investigating authority, which in this case is the Ukrainian National Bureau of Air Accidents and Incidents Investigation with Civil Aircraft.

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The second of two black boxes has been recovered from the debris field where Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH17 is believed to have gone down in eastern Ukraine.

Pro-Russian separatists in the region said yesterday they had found one of the "black box" recorders when the Malaysian airliner came down, killing all 298 people on board.

themalaysianinsider.com

According to Reuters, a cameraman from the news agency reported that the second of two flight recorders was found at 5.55am GMT. This follows a report from Russian news agency Interfax that pro-Russia separatists who claim to have recovered the black box of MH17 have announced that they are planning to have it moved to Moscow for examination.

A tug of war is under way for possession of doomed flight MH17's "black box" recorder amid reports the device, which could provide the key to the crash investigation, has already been sent to Moscow.

Aviation experts said the black box, comprising cockpit voice and data recordings, would establish for certain whether the plane was shot down and where the deadly missile may have been fired from. The data and voice recorders on Boeing 777s like the Malaysia Airlines one that crashed are among the most sophisticated in civilian use.

Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said on his Facebook page the plane was flying at an altitude of 10,000 meters (33,000 feet). He also said it was hit by a missile fired from a Buk launcher, which can fire missiles up to an altitude of 22,000 meters (72,000 feet).

freemalaysiatoday.com

CNN reports that the United States government has concluded that MH17 was shot down by a missile although it has not identified the shooter. Quoting a senior US official, CNN reports a radar system saw a surface-to-air missile system 'turn on' and track an aircraft right before the plane went down. And a second system saw a heat signature at the time the airliner was hit.

Ukraine’s government said the rebels used the Russian-made Buk surface-to-air missile system. Descended from the 1970s-era SA-6 Gainful, the Buk is in use throughout the militaries that make up the countries of the former Soviet Union, including Russia and Ukraine.

It’s a sophisticated surface-to-air anti-aircraft system with a range of up to 25 kilometers high, putting Flight MH17 easily within range. Unlike the powerful, extremely long-range and much-feared Russian S-300 (also know as the SA-10 or SA-20) surface-to-air missile, the Buk is not tied into a national air defense system.

Both Russian and Ukrainian forces have been known to use the surface-to-air Buk missile system, also known as SA-11 or SA-17 and the next-generation S-300 and S-400 missiles. And despite the fact that there is no confirmation of the exact locations of these systems, considering the current situation between Ukraine and Russia, it's "very likely that high-end air defense systems are located in that area," Sim Tack, a security analyst at Stratfor said.

mashable.com

Both the president of Ukraine and a separatist leader have denied shooting anything down Thursday. However separatist leader Andrei Purgin told The Associated Press he was certain Ukrainian troops had shot it down but gave no explanation for that statement. Purgin said he was not aware of whether rebel forces owned Buk missile launchers, but even if they did, there had no fighters capable of operating it.

freemalaysiatoday.com

IN honour of the 298 lives lost in the MH17 tragedy, the Penang State government will fly the Penang flag at half-mast for three days, beginning July 18. In a ceremony held at KOMTAR, civil servants and state leaders gathered to observe a one-minute silence, lowering of the Penang flag to half-mast, prayers and a condolence message from the Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

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Speaking to members of the press after the ceremony, Lim said, "We want justice for the loss of lives through this cruel and inhumane act. Not only our Malaysian government but the international community must seek justice."

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Lim also said the the ceremony today is also to honour and remember the loss of lives of those on board MH370. "We wanted to do this (MH 370) earlier but the family members at that time were still hopeful. We respect the wishes of the family and didn't do so earlier. So today, we are flying the Penang flag at half-mast for victims of both MH 17 and MH 370," Lim explained.

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In the wake of the reported downing of the Malaysian airline over Ukraine, major airlines on Thursday began avoiding the airspace over Ukraine and the Federal Aviation Administration issued a notice to pilots of U.S. air carriers to avoid those routes.

mashable.com

Airlines are also redirecting their flightpaths to avoid the area where flight MH17 crashed, according to Flightradar24. A number of airlines around the world have announced they are going to reroute flights to avoid Ukrainian airspace. The list of companies includes Russian Aeroflot, UTair and Transaero, German Lufthansa and Turkish airlines.

Pilots around the world are being advised to plan routes that avoid the area, the statement said. China’s aviation administration has ordered all Chinese airliners to avoid eastern Ukrainian airspace where flight MH17 has crashed, CCTV reports.

U.S. carriers have voluntarily agreed not operate in the airspace near the Russian-Ukraine border, the Federal Aviation Administration said in an e-mail. Italy’s aviation agency ENAC said its airlines should avoid flying over the area as well.

The EU air traffic control regulator - Eurocontrol – has closed the airspace over eastern Ukraine and has already started working on routes that would bypass the country. “Since the crash, the Ukrainian authorities have informed EUROCONTROL of the closure of routes from the ground to unlimited in Eastern Ukraine (Dnipropetrovsk Flight Information Region). All flight plans that are filed using these routes are now being rejected by EUROCONTROL. The routes will remain closed until further notice,” it said in a statement.

The area was a popular route for flights going between Europe and Asian cities such as Singapore, Mikael Robertsson, co-founder of Stockholm-based Flightradar24 AB, said in an interview.

Dutch media is saying #MH17 may have been confused with Russian President Putin’s plane. The two flew the same route.

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Social media posts by pro-Russian insurgents - most of them hastily removed - suggest the rebels thought they had shot down a Ukrainian army plane before realising in horror that it was in fact a packed Malaysian airliner.

straitstimes.com

The VK social networking page of Igor Strelkov - "defence minister" of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic - first announced: "We just downed an An-26 near (the town of) Torez." "And here is a video confirming that a 'bird fell'," said the post. The website then provides a link identical to that published by Ukrainian media in reports about the Malaysia Airlines jet. The video shows locals referring to the same coal mine in the region mentioned by Strelkov.

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The VK post was soon removed - but not before its screen grab was captured and distributed in an English-language press release by the military headquarters of Kiev's eastern campaign.

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The strongly pro-Kiev Ukrainska Pravda news site later posted an audio recording of what it claimed were the intercepted field communications between rebels and a Russian agent discussing the downing. "We just downed a plane," a rebel the recording identifies as Bes (Demon) tells an alleged Russian military intelligency officer.

straitstimes.com

Another recording shows one alleged fighter reporting from the site of the plane's remains that it was "100 per cent certain this is a civilian aircraft." He spits out a Russian expletive when asked whether there were a lot of passengers on board.

straitstimes.com

The prime suspect goes by the name Strelkov — or "shooter". Real name Igor Girkin. “We did warn you — do not fly in our sky," he reportedly posted to a Russian social media page just hours ago. But that post has now been deleted as it has become clear the jet was from Malaysia Airlines, not a military transport aircraft of the type Girkin has brought down in recent weeks.

smh.com.au

With immediate effect, all European flights operated by Malaysia Airlines will be taking alternative routes avoiding the usual route.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was on a scheduled flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur went down in eastern Ukraine. Malaysia Airlines confirms that the aircraft did not make a distress call.

The usual flight route was earlier declared safe by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. International Air Transportation Association has stated that the airspace the aircraft was traversing was not subject to restrictions.

The prime suspect goes by the name Strelkov — or "shooter". Real name Igor Girkin. “We did warn you — do not fly in our sky," he reportedly posted to a Russian social media page just hours ago. But that post has now been deleted as it has become clear the jet was from Malaysia Airlines, not a military transport aircraft of the type Girkin has brought down in recent weeks.

smh.com.au

As opposed to the earlier statement, the flight was carrying a total number of 298 people – comprising 283 passengers including three infants of various nationalities and 15 crew of Malaysian nationality. Some of the nationalities of the passengers are yet to be determined.

Passengers list: Netherlands (154), Malaysia (45, including 15 crew & 2 infants), Australia (27), Indonesia (12, including 1 infant), United Kingdom (9), Germany (4), Belgium (4), Philippines (3), Canada (1), Unverified (41).

Malaysia Airlines is in the process of notifying the next-of-kin of the passengers and crew. Our focus now is to work with the emergency responders and authorities and mobilize its full support to provide all possible care to the next-of-kin. Malaysia Airlines is deploying its “Go Team” to Amsterdam with a group of caregivers and volunteers to assist the family members of the passengers.

A number of scientists and researchers heading to a key Aids conference in Melbourne were reportedly on board the Malaysia Airlines plane that has crashed in Ukraine. The scientists were en route to AIDS2014, the 20th international Aids conference.

theguardian.com

A spokesman for the International AIDS Society said the organisation was seeking to confirm the identities of those killed in the incident. "The International AIDS Society (IAS) today expresses its sincere sadness at receiving news that a number of colleagues and friends en route to attend the 20thInternational AIDS Conference taking place in Melbourne, Australia, were on board the Malaysian Airlines MH17 flight that has crashed over Ukraine earlier today," the organisation said in a statement.

theguardian.com

Airlines group IATA says it believes crashed Malaysian aircraft was not flying in restricted airspace

reuters.com

Based on information available, airline industry body IATA said it believed that the airspace the aircraft was travelling through was not subject to restrictions.

stuff.co.nz

Najib is currently being briefed on the status of MH17 at the Malaysia Airlines Emergency Ops Centre at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Journalists have converged outside the viewing area at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport but are not allowed in by airport security. Some family members have also arrived but were also not allowed in and referred to MAS staff. They refused to speak to the media.

Rescue workers say they have found at least 100 bodies, near the village of Grabovo, spread across an area of up to 15 kilometres, Reuters reports. Broken pieces of a wing with the colours red and blue were also found on scene.

"I was working in the field on my tractor when I heard the sound of a plane and then a bang and shots. "Then I saw the plane hit the groud and break into two. There was thick black smoke," a witness, who gave his name only as Vladimir, told the news agency.

A large passenger aircraft Boeing 777, performing a flight between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur, was shot down in the eastern part of Ukraine. According to the General Staff of Ukrainian Armed Forces, the airplane was shot down by the Russian Buk missile system as the liner was flying at an altitude of 10,000 meters. Ukraine has no long-range air defence missile systems in this area. The plane was shot down, because the Russian air defence systems was affording protection to Russian mercenaries and terrorists in this area. Ukraine will present the evidence of Russian military involvement into the Boeing crash. The leader of the terrorists Igor Girkin (Strelkov) immediately commented on the airplane catastrophe, believing that it was the Ukrainian jet that crashed down: “In Torez An-26 was shot down, its crashes are lying somewhere near the coal mine “Progress”. We have warned everyone: do not fly in our skies.”

The Malaysian prime minister tweeted, "I am shocked by reports that an MH plane crashed. We are launching an immediate investigation."

mashable.com

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called for the creation of a government commission along with the ICAO (Ukrainian Aviation Security Training Centre) and other international organizations to investigate the tragedy of the Malaysian Airlines passenger plane.

mashable.com

Ukrainian int. ministry official accuses "separatists" of shooting down MAS flight MH17 with missile.

Earlier a Ukrainian security spokesman has accused Russia's air force of shooting down one of its fighter jets while it was on a mission over Ukrainian territory. A spokesman for Malaysian Airlines has confirmed "an incident" on board one of its flights and is expected to release a statement shortly.

ibtimes.co.uk

An adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry reports the plane was brought down by a ground-to-air missile. A government minister says Ukrainian rebels shot it down.

mashable.com

Military expert Dmitry Tymchuk says the Malaysia Airlines plane crashed to the north of Torez in the Donetsk region, according to Ukrainian journalist Myroslava.

The area is controlled by pro-Russian separatists who are fighting the Ukrainian army.

businessinsider.my

Sources said the plane was "shot down" while it was cruising at an altitude of 30,000ft.

The aircraft, which other sources said was a Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, came down near the city of Donetsk, stronghold of pro-Russian rebels, Anton Gerashchenko said, adding that it was hit by a ground-to-air missile.

themalaysianinsider.com

Reports said that it crashed in a conflicted area near Donetsk and it would be complicated to get to the crash.

Some 295 people were said to be on board the Boeing plane which was reportedly flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

ibtimes.co.uk

A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane carrying 280 passengers and 15 crew crashed in Ukraine near the country's border with Russia, according to an Interfax report.

mashable.com

There were 280 passengers and 15 crew members onboard, according to the aviation source quoted by Interfax.

thejournal.ie

Flight MH17 operated on a Boeing 777 departed Amsterdam at 12.15pm (Amsterdam local time) and was estimated to arrive at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 6.10 am (Malaysia local time) the next day.

themalaysianinsider.com

A Malaysian airliner reportedly with 295 people on board has crashed in Ukraine near the Russian border, on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

bbc.com

A Malaysian passenger jet has crashed in Ukraine, near the border with Russia, according to reports.
The Interfax news agency, based in Russia, broke the news within the last half hour.

thejournal.ie

A Malaysian airplane failed to enter Russian airspace when expected on Thursday and was found burning on the ground in eastern Ukraine, an aviation source told Reuters.

reuters.com

Multiple media outlets are reporting that another Malaysian Airlines plane has crashed, this time near the Russian boarder in Ukraine. According to Interfax, that’s from a source in the aviation industry.

valuewalk.com