Ukraine official says plane was shot down; Obama calls crash 'terrible tragedy,' says White House working to determine whether Americans were aboard
A Malaysia Airlines passenger plane carrying 295 people crashed near the Ukraine-Russia border Thursday, and a Ukraine official said later it had been shot down by a missile in the volatile region. Both government officials and pro-Russia separatists fighting in the region denied responsibility.
The number of fatalities in the crash was not immediately clear. An aide to Ukraine's interior minister quoted by Interfax said the total number of dead in the crash of Flight MH17 was more than 300 and includee 23 U.S. citizens. An Associated Press reporter at the scene reported seeing at least 22 bodies.
In brief comments made in Delaware Thursday afternoon, President Barack Obama called the crash a "terrible tragedy." He said the White House was working to determine whether there were U.S. citizens aboard the plane.
Meanwhile, the head of Ukrainian's emergency services told Reuters that search efforts at the scene of the crash we being hampered by "armed terrorists."
Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, wrote on Facebook that the plane was flying at an altitude 33,000 feet when it was hit by a missile fired from a Buk launcher.
Separatist leader Andrei Purgin told the AP that he beieved Ukrainian troops had shot the plane down, but did not say why he was certain. Witnesses quoted by Russian media outlets said they saw a plane being hit by what they thought was a rocket, according to the news service.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Ukraine's military was not responsible for the reported attack, which he called an “act of terror."
"We do not exclude that this plane was shot down, and we stress that the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not take action against any airborne targets," Poroshenko said. "We are sure that those who are guilty in this tragedy will be held responsible."
Malaysian Airlines earlier tweeted that it lost contact with Flight MH17 over Ukrainian airspace:
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. The flight was carrying 280 passengers and 15 crew onboard.
The plane crashed near a village called Hrabovo in the Donetsk region, an area that has seen clashes between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russia separatist rebels in recent days.
On Wednesday evening, a Ukrainian fighter jet was shot down by a Russian plane, Ukrainian authorities told the AP.
Prior to Thursday's crash, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, along with several other contries, had warned pilots not to fly over parts of Ukraine.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama directed his national security team to be "in close touch" with Ukrainian authorities. Obama spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, at Moscow’s request, to discuss new sanctions announced by United States and European Union. According to the White House, Obama first learned of the crash during the talk with Putin.
Video uploaded to social media shows debris falling from the sky near the crash site.
This is the second tragedy to hit Malaysia Airlines in recent months. The Ukraine crash comes just four months after Malaysian Airlines Flight M370 lost contact less than an hour after takeoff from Kuala Lumpur International Airport and vanished. That flight was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members.
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