[PHOTOS] MH17 DAY 1: Gripping Scenes From The First 24 Hours
"This is a tragic day, in what has already been a tragic year, for Malaysia," Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.
The news of MH17 crashing near the Ukrainian-Russian border first broke on social media at about 10.30pm on Thursday, 17 July 2014
The plane was believed to have been mistakenly shot down by pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine using a surface-to-air missile
US Vice President Joe Biden says it was “not an accident” and “blown out of the sky"
Self-proclaimed Prime Minister of the pro-Russian separatist "Donetsk People's Republic" Alexander Borodai visited the crash cite
Residents spoke of bodies falling from the sky, looking like rags or clumps of ash before the planes fell onto a large wheat field
Belongings of the passengers were scattered through the grass: books, toiletries, passports, luggage...
Many of the victims were still wearing their seat belts, attached to pieces of the plane
Malaysia Airlines first reported that 280 people were onboard MH17, but later increased the count to 298 people, including 15 crew
Hours after the news broke, the people of Kiev held a vigil for the victims of MH17 near the Dutch embassy
Grieving relatives of those onboard Malaysia Airlines gathered at KLIA demanding for news about their family members
Pilots around the world were advised to avoid Ukrainian airspace and the area where MH17 was shot down
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak says no stones will be left unturned in the investigation