Malaysia Airlines crash: 121 bodies recovered

The plane might have been shot down by a missile, say reports

121 bodies have been recovered so far from the wreckage of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, according to media reports.

Rescue workers have also recovered a second flight recorder from the Malaysian airliner, a Reuters cameraman on the scene said.

 

Reports said that pro-Russian separatists in the region had found one of the "black box" recorders on Thursday. 

The jet with about 300 people on board had crashed in eastern Ukraine near the Russian border on Thursday.

The Interfax news agency had said the plane had been shot down.

 

Ukrainian and US officials today said the aircaft was downed by a Russian-made anti-aircraft missile.

 

A regional airline official said the plane had been flying at about 33,000 ft when radar trackers lost it over eastern Ukraine, near the Russian border.

 

Malaysia Airlines, still reeling from the mysterious loss of another Boeing 777 flight in March, said it had lost contact with the flight, MH17, flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, while it was flying over Ukraine. 

 

"There were 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board the plane," Malaysian Airlines vice president Huib Gorter told reporters.

 

Air traffic control lost contact with the Boeing 777-400 around 14:15 (local time) near the Russian-Ukrainian border, he said. Flight MH17 took off from Schiphol shortly after noon and was supposed to land in Kuala Lumpur at around 06:10 am local time, Gorter added.

Eastern Ukraine has been roiled for months by a violent pro-Russian separatist uprising in which a number of military aircraft have been downed. Thursday's crash, however, is the first commercial airline disaster resulting from the hostilities.

In a Twitter post, Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak had said he was "shocked by reports that an MH plane crashed. We are launching an immediate investigation".

 

The Malaysian govt will dispatch a special flight to Keiv, carrying a special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team, as well as a medical team, he said today.

 

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council was to hold an emergency meeting today morning on Ukraine.