Few Facts You May Want To Know

The plane

A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER, which the carrier said was carrying 283 passengers, including three infants, and 15 crew members on Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. After leaving Amsterdam at 12:15pm local time, the aircraft was due to land at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 6:10am local time the following day.

The route
Though Ukrainian military aircraft have been shot down over eastern Ukraine by rebels, and the area has been the scene of fierce fighting, the route taken by the Malaysian jet appears to have been subject to no flight restrictions, the International Air Transport Association, an industry group, said. The plane apparently was flying at approximately 10,000 meters (33,000 feet), which was authorised, although Ukrainian authorities had closed the airspace at lower altitudes.

The crash
Ukrainian authorities reported the crash, and an Associated Press journalist found the site near a village held by pro-Russia fighters 40 kilometers from the Russia border. The reporter said the aircraft appeared to have broken up before impact. Burning wreckage and the belongings of passengers were strewn over a wide area.

The Cause
An adviser to Ukraine's interior minister said the plane was shot down with a missile, but gave no proof. In a counterclaim, a pro-Moscow separatist leader said he was certain that it was Ukrainian troops who downed the airliner, but also offered no explanation or proof. Independent Western defense experts told the AP that both Ukrainian and Russian armed forces possess SA-17 missile launchers capable of reaching an altitude of 20,000 meters, and that pro-Moscow insurgents may have gotten their hands on one to two surface-to-air missiles when Ukrainian forces retreated.

As international investigators scramble to gain access to the crash site, rescue workers say they have recovered one of the plane's "black box" flight recorders after searching through debris. Pro-Russian separatists in the region are also said to have discovered the second black box. The recorders - actually coloured a deep orange to aid discovery - store key technical information about the flight as well as conversations undertaken in the cockpit.

The Passengers
At least 189 people on the flight were Dutch citizens. There were also 44 Malaysians, including all 15 crew on board, 27 Australians, and 12 Indonesians. Other nationalities so far identified were 9 passengers from the United Kingdom, four from Germany, four Belgians, three from the Philippines, one from New Zealand and one Canadian. 4 bodies are still unverified.

Who will investigate?
The Ukrainian government had initiated an investigation and had invited Malaysia to participate, Malaysia's Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai confirmed yesterday. Sixty-two officials from Malaysia are travelling to Kiev. But Malaysian authorities also called for an additional independent international investigation to be conducted. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe yesterday said that representatives of separatist groups had agreed to provide safe access to the crash site for rescue teams, as well as national and international investigators and monitors. Separatists are also co-operating with Ukrainian authorities in the course of the rescue operation, it added.

The reaction
President Obama, who was informed by Russian President Vladimir Putin during a phone call of reports of a downed passenger jet, asked that his advisers keep him updated. Boeing offered any assistance that authorities might request. Eurocontrol said Ukrainian authorities informed it that all air space in Eastern Ukraine has now been closed, and that any flight plans filed using these routes will be rejected by Eurocontrol until further notice.