'Crashed Malaysian flight wasn't in restricted airspace'

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said Thursday that it was believed the crashed Malaysia Airlines flight had not traversed to restricted airspace.

Based on the information currently available it is believed that the airspace that the aircraft was traversing was not subject to restrictions, Xinhua quoted IATA as saying in a brief statement .

The Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed Thursday in eastern Ukraine near the Russian border, with all the 280 passengers and 15 crew members on board reportedly killed.

It was reported that the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, which was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, started descending 50 km before entering Russian airspace, and was subsequently found burning on the ground on Ukrainian territory.

The plane reportedly disappeared from radar at an altitude of 10,000 metres and then crashed near the city of Shakhtarsk in Ukraine's Donetsk region.