HRABOVE, Ukraine (AP) -- Ukraine
accused pro-Russian separatists of shooting down a Malaysian jetliner
with 298 people aboard, sharply escalating the crisis and threatening to
draw both East and West deeper into the conflict. The rebels denied
downing the aircraft.
 |
| Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 takes off at 12.31 PM from Schiphol airport near Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 17 July 2014. A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 with more than 280 passengers on board crashed in eastern Ukraine, Russian and Ukrainian news agencies report. The airline said on its Twitter account that it lost contact with flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. Both Russian and Ukrainian sources confirmed that the plane went down between the city of Donetsk and the Russian border, an area that has |
American
intelligence authorities believe a surface-to-air missile brought the
plane down Thursday but were still working on who fired the missile and
whether it came from the Russian or Ukrainian side of the border, a U.S.
official said.
Bodies,
debris and burning wreckage of the Boeing 777 were strewn over a field
near the rebel-held village of Hrabove in the Donetsk region of eastern
Ukraine, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Russian border, where
fighting has raged for months.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden described the plane as having been "blown out of the sky."
The
aircraft appeared to have broken up before impact, and there were large
pieces of the plane that bore the red, white and blue markings of
Malaysia Airlines — now familiar worldwide because of the carrier's
still-missing jetliner from earlier this year.
The cockpit and
one of the turbines lay at a distance of one kilometer (more than a
half-mile) from one another. Residents said the tail was about 10
kilometers (six miles) farther away. Rescue workers planted sticks with
white flags in spots where they found human remains.
There
was no sign of any survivors from Flight 17, which took off shortly
after noon Thursday from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with 283 passengers,
including three infants, and a crew of 15. Malaysia's prime minister
said there was no distress call before the plane went down and that the
flight route was declared safe by the International Civil Aviation
Organization.
Ukrainian
President Petro Poroshenko called it an "act of terrorism" and demanded
an international investigation. He insisted his forces did not shoot
down the plane.
In Kuala Lumpur, several relatives of those aboard the jet came to the international airport.
A
distraught Akmar Mohamad Noor, 67, said her older sister was coming to
visit the family for the first time in five years. "She called me just
before she boarded the plane and said, 'See you soon,'" Akmar said.
Counsellors
were meeting with a few family members in the airport viewing gallery,
sealed off from a horde of journalists. One woman emerged in tears and
was escorted out of the airport by a security officer without saying
anything.
It was the second
time a Malaysia Airlines plane was lost in less than six months. Flight
370 disappeared in March en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. It has
not been found, and the search has focused on the Indian Ocean far west
of Australia.
"This is just
too much," said Cindy Tan, who was waiting at the airport for a friend
on another flight. "I don't know really why this happened to a MAS
(Malaysia Airlines) plane again."
Ukraine's
security services produced what they said were two intercepted
telephone conversations that showed rebels were responsible. In the
first call, the security services said, rebel commander Igor Bezler
tells a Russian military intelligence officer that rebel forces shot
down a plane. In the second, two rebel fighters — one of them at the
crash scene — say the rocket attack was carried out by a unit of
insurgents about 25 kilometers (15 miles) north of the site.
Neither recording could be independently verified.
Russia's
Interfax news agency quoted Sergey Kavtaradze, a special representative
of the Donetsk People's Republic leader, as denying that the
intercepted phone conversations were genuine.
Earlier in the week, the rebels had claimed responsibility for shooting down two Ukrainian military planes.
President
Barack Obama called the crash a "terrible tragedy" and spoke by phone
with Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as Poroshenko. Britain
asked for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Ukraine.
Later,
Putin said Ukraine bore responsibility for the crash, but he didn't
address the question of who might have shot it down and didn't accuse
Ukraine of doing so.
"This
tragedy would not have happened if there were peace on this land, if the
military actions had not been renewed in southeast Ukraine," Putin
said, according to a Kremlin statement issued early Friday. "And,
certainly, the state over whose territory this occurred bears
responsibility for this awful tragedy."
At
the United Nations, Ukrainian Ambassador Yuriy Sergeyev told the AP
that Russia gave the separatists a sophisticated missile system and thus
Moscow bears responsibility, along with the rebels.
More
than half of those aboard the plane were Dutch citizens, along with
passengers from Australia, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, Germany,
Belgium, the Philippines and Canada. The home countries of 41 people
were not confirmed.
Australian
Prime Minister Tony Abbott told Parliament Friday that authorities owe
it to the families of the dead to find out exactly what happened and who
was responsible. "As things stand, this looks less like an accident
than a crime. And if so, the perpetrators must be brought to justice,"
he said.
The different
nationalities of the dead would bring Ukraine's conflict to parts of the
globe that were never touched by it before.
U.S. Secretary of State John
Kerry said he was "horrified" by the crash, and said the United States
was prepared to help with an international investigation.
Ukraine's
crisis began after pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych was driven
from office in February by a protest movement among citizens angry about
endemic corruption and seeking closer ties with the European Union.
Russia later annexed the Crimean Peninsula in southern Ukraine, and
pro-Russians in the country's eastern regions began occupying government
buildings and pressing for independence. Moscow denies Western charges
it is supporting the separatists or sowing unrest.
Kenneth
Quinn of the Flight Safety Foundation said an international coalition
of countries should lead the investigation. Safety experts say they're
concerned that because the plane crashed in area of Ukraine that is in
dispute, political considerations could affect the investigation.
The
RIA-Novosti agency quoted rebel leader Alexander Borodai as saying
talks were underway with Ukrainian authorities on calling a short truce
for humanitarian reasons. He said international organizations would be
allowed into the conflict-plagued region.
Some journalists trying to reach the crash site were detained briefly by rebel militiamen, who were nervous and aggressive.
Aviation
authorities in several countries, including the FAA in the United
States, had issued warnings not to fly over parts of Ukraine prior to
Thursday's crash, but many carriers, including cash-strapped Malaysia
Airlines, had continued to use the route because "it is a shorter route,
which means less fuel and therefore less money," said aviation expert
Norman Shanks.
Within hours of Thursday's crash, several airlines said they were avoiding parts of Ukrainian airspace.
Malaysia
Airlines said Ukrainian aviation authorities told the company they had
lost contact with Flight 17 at 1415 GMT (10:15 a.m. EDT) about 30
kilometers (20 miles) from Tamak waypoint, which is 50 kilometers (30
miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border.
A U.S. official said American
intelligence authorities believe the plane was brought down by a
surface-to-air missile but were still working to determine additional
details about the crash, including who fired the missile and whether it
came from the Russian or Ukraine side of the border.
But
American intelligence assessments suggest it is more likely pro-Russian
separatists or the Russians rather than Ukrainian government forces
shot down the plane, according to the official, who spoke on condition
of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter
publicly.
The United States
has sophisticated technologies that can detect missile launches,
including the identification of heat from the rocket engine.
Anton
Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, said on his
Facebook page the plane was flying at about 10,000 meters (33,000 feet)
when it was hit by a missile from a Buk launcher, which can fire up to
an altitude of 22,000 meters (72,000 feet). He said only that his
information was based on "intelligence."
Igor
Sutyagin, a research fellow in Russian studies at the Royal United
Services Institute, said both Ukrainian and Russian forces have SA-17
missile systems — also known as Buk ground-to-air launcher systems.
Rebels had bragged recently about having acquired Buk systems.
Sutyagin
said Russia had supplied separatists with military hardware but had
seen no evidence "of the transfer of that type of system from Russia."
Earlier
Thursday, AP journalists saw a launcher that looked like a Buk missile
system near the eastern town of Snizhne, which is held by the rebels.
Poroshenko said his country's armed forces didn't shoot at any airborne targets.
Separatist
leader Andrei Purgin told the AP he was certain that Ukrainian troops
had shot the plane down, but gave no explanation or proof.
There have been several disputes over planes being shot down over eastern Ukraine in recent days.
A
Ukrainian fighter jet was shot down Wednesday by an air-to-air missile
from a Russian plane, Ukrainian authorities said, adding to what Kiev
says is mounting evidence that Moscow is directly supporting the
insurgents.
Pro-Russia
rebels claimed responsibility for strikes on two Ukrainian Sukhoi-25
jets Wednesday. Ukraine's Defense Ministry said the second jet was hit
by a portable surface-to-air missile but the pilot landed safely.
 | ||
| An armed pro-Russian separatist stands on part of the wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane after it crashed near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region, July 17, 2014. The Malaysian airliner flight MH-17 was brought down over eastern Ukraine on Thursday, killing all 295 people aboard and sharply raising stakes in a conflict between Kiev and pro-Moscow rebels in which Russia and the West back opposing sides. (REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev) |
 |
| The site of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane crash is seen near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region, July 17, 2014. The Malaysian airliner Flight MH-17 was brought down over eastern Ukraine on Thursday, killing all 295 people aboard and sharply raising the stakes in a conflict between Kiev and pro-Moscow rebels in which Russia and the West back opposing sides. (REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev) |
 |
| People stand near part of the wreckage of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane after it crashed near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region, July 17, 2014. The Malaysian airliner Flight MH-17 was brought down over eastern Ukraine on Thursday, killing all 295 people aboard and sharply raising stakes in a conflict between Kiev and pro-Moscow rebels in which Russia and the West back opposing sides. (REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev) |
 |
| The site of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane crash is seen near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region, July 17, 2014. The Malaysian airliner Flight MH-17 was brought down over eastern Ukraine on Thursday, killing all 295 people aboard and sharply raising the stakes in a conflict between Kiev and pro-Moscow rebels in which Russia and the West back opposing sides. (REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev) |
 |
| An Emergencies Ministry member (front) walks at the site of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane crash near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region, July 17, 2014. The Malaysian airliner Flight MH-17 was brought down over eastern Ukraine on Thursday, killing all 295 people aboard and sharply raising the stakes in a conflict between Kiev and pro-Moscow rebels in which Russia and the West back opposing sides. (REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev) |
 |
| Armed pro-Russian separatists stand at the site of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane crash near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region, July 17, 2014. The Malaysian airliner Flight MH-17 was brought down over eastern Ukraine on Thursday, killing all 295 people aboard and sharply raising the stakes in a conflict between Kiev and pro-Moscow rebels in which Russia and the West back opposing sides. (REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev ) |
Post a Comment