Malaysia Airlines Plane Carrying 295 People Shot Down

Malaysia airlines civilian plane carrying 295 people was shot down over Ukraine air space, leaving all passengers dead. The plane was flying to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam. An adviser to Ukraine Interior Minister, Anton Gerashenko, commented on Facebook, saying that a missile from a Buk launcher over the country’s east hit the aeroplane. Separatist leader, Oleg Tsarev denied the accusations made by Ukraine.Tsarev continued to say that they do not have weapons that can shoot down the aeroplane from such altitude.

Despite Tsarev’s denial, it is believed they had such weapons, which they had also used to shoot down several Ukraine military planes. Malaysia Airlines confirmed that the last position to contact flight MH17 was at the Ukraine airspace.

Talking to Reuters, Russian aviation industry source, said that the aeroplane didn’t enter Russian airspace when expected. There has been a heavy fight between the separatists and the military at the Ukraine’s east in the recent past.

President Petro Poroshenko said that the downing of the plane is an act of terrorism. He added that the international investigation into the crash was the only way to go. United States Vice President, Joe Biden, while on the phone with Ukrainian President, he raised the idea that the plane was deliberately shot down; however, he didn’t say who he thought was accountable.

Senator, John McCain stated that the separatists and the Russian military would pay dearly if they are accountable of the act, even if they mistakenly believed that it was a Ukrainian war Plane. Airlines had been warned earlier about the risk of flying over the place where 2 Ukrainian military aircraft had been shot down early this week.Early this year, the International Civil Aviation Organization warned carriers to consider different routes as it was not safe to fly international civil flights on such routes.

Early this week, Eurocontrol, sent out an official message to all airmen, also known as Notam, putting more emphasis on the warning saying that it strongly advises to avoid the airspace. Many carriers are said to prefer the route since it is shorter, and, therefore, cheaper.

Witnesses at Rassypnaya claimed to have seen a dozen corpses falling out of the shot airplane over the village. The villagers also feared that they were bomb attacks. People in uniform were seen collecting the corpses. The place was also covered in debris from the airplane. Reports said that the separatists recovered the black box and handed it over to Moscow, which is also thought to give Russia a chance to hamper investigation. An emergency rescue worker stated that they had found at least 100 bodies lying beside the broken pieces. U.S.A President called it a “terrible tragedy”. He added to say “ Our prayers and thoughts are with everyone that might have lost their dear ones.”

Philip Hammond, British Foreign secretary, said that he was shocked by the awful incident and send his heartfelt condolences to everyone who may have lost friends or family members. He said they were determined to know what had happened. Valentyn Nalivaychenko, SBU chief said that Malaysia is not able to confirm the cause of the tragedy. He insisted on saying that no stone would be left unturned as they will find out exactly what happened to the flight.

The SBU chief added that if the plane was shot down, the perpetrators must quickly be brought to justice. The chief said that Malaysia will send a special flight to Kiev together with disaster assistance and rescue team.

General Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary, said that a full and transparent international investigation should be carried out to know exactly what brought down the plane. Meanwhile, relatives were waiting at the airport for news concerning their missing loved ones. The plane crash comes barely 4 months after the unexplained disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.