Malaysia Airlines jet crashes in Ukraine; official says 295 people 'shot down'
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Journalist: Witnesses said "everything rained down in bits and pieces"
Ukrainian Interior Minister adviser posts that flight carrying 295 people was "shot down"
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak tweets that probe will begin immediately
The flight left Amsterdam and was en route to Kuala Lumpur.
(CNN) -- A Malaysia Airlines passenger jet crashed in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, prompting swift accusations from Ukrainian officials that "terrorists" shot down the aircraft.
The Boeing 777 carrying 295 people went down near the town of Torez in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, according to a Facebook post from a top Ukrainian official, as it flew at about 10,000 meters (nearly 33,000 feet) on the way from Amsterdam to Malaysia.
Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, said in a Facebook post that "terrorists" fired on the plane operating a Buk surface-to-air missile system.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko described the crash as a "terrorist action."
"We do not exclude that the plane was shot down and confirm that the Ukraine Armed Forces did not fire at any targets in the sky," Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said, according to his website.
The crash sent emergency crews scrambling to what witnesses described as a staggering scene.
"People said the plane kind of exploded in the air, and that everything rained down in bits and pieces, the plane itself, the people inside," said Noah Sneider, an American freelance journalist who interviewed witnesses at the scene.
Now, charred wreckage stretches for kilometers, he said. Stunned rescue workers and rebel fighters are combing the area, Sneider said, planting sticks with white cotton ribbons where they find bodies in the fields.
"As you walk through the fields, you see a man with his cracked iPhone sticking out of his pocket. You see sort of people's clothing everywhere. Most of it's kind of ripped off by the air. There's some suitcases and stuff in a pile by the road," Sneider said.
There are many bodies left to be found, he said, but night is falling, and people are trying to figure out what to do next.
Locals in the rural area trying to help were overwhelmed, he said. Firemen who rushed to put out the flames found they had a hose with holes in it, spraying water everywhere, he said.
"One man said to me, 'Nothing's happened in this village for 30 years, and now this,'" Sneider said.
Details are quickly pouring in about Thursday's crash which comes the same week that Ukrainian officials said a Russian fighter shot down a Ukrainian military transport plane while the aircraft was in Ukrainian airspace.
As news broke of the crash, Malaysia Airlines confirmed in a tweet that it lost contact with Flight 17 and that the jet's last known position was over Ukrainian airspace.
CNN's Richard Quest, an aviation expert, said that it would be "extremely unusual" for an airliner at 32,000 feet to be shot down. From the ground, one could simply look up and tell whether a plane was a commercial aircraft.
"It looks like a commercial aircraft, it squawks a commercial aircraft. So something is absolutely appalling that's gone on here," he said.
Reports are still coming in about who may have been on board and where they're from.
But Laurent Fabius, France's Minister of Foreign Affairs, confirmed to CNN that there were at least four French victims on the plane.
FlightRadar24 showed the plane disappearing near Kremenchuk, Ukraine.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak tweeted that an investigation will be launched immediately. "I am shocked by reports that an MH plane crashed," he posted.
And Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk ordered that a government commission investigate the crash, a statement from his office said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin "expressed deep condolences" to Malaysia's Prime Minister over the crash, a post Thursday on the Kremlin's website said. He "asked to pass the most sincere word of condolences and support to families and relatives of (the crash) victims," the post said.
Near the end of a phone call Thursday morning with President Obama, Putin noted to the President the early reports of a downed passenger jet near the Russia-Ukraine border, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.
Obama directed his staff to be in touch with senior Ukrainian officials, Earnest said.
Later Thursday, Obama said the crash "looks like it may be a terrible tragedy" and he said efforts were underway to determine if any Americans were aboard.
Vice President Joe Biden, who was traveling in Detroit Thursday, talked on the phone with President Poroshenko, Earnest said, adding that Biden offered U.S. assistance to help determine why the crash occurred.
Poroshenko said he has expressed condolences to Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte about the crash.
The route the Malaysian plane was on, between Kuala Lumpur and the Netherlands, is a common one, CNN aviation safety consultant Mary Schiavo said Thursday. She said that the plane was flying over a troubled area and that close communication with air traffic controllers would be a key necessity.
Tensions have been high between Ukraine and Russia since street protests forced former pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych from power in February. Russia subsequently annexed Ukraine's southeastern Crimea region, and a pro-Russian separatist rebellion has been raging in Ukraine's eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
Ukrainian forces have been struggling to quell the separatist unrest. Ukraine's government has accused Russia of allowing weapons and military equipment, including tanks, to cross the border illegally into the hands of pro-Russian separatists.
The Pentagon said Wednesday that Russia now has 12,000 troops on the border with Ukraine, as well as some heavy weapons. The troop numbers had fallen to about 1,000 previously from a high of an estimated 40,000 forces earlier this year.
By Ashley Fantz and Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN
July 17, 2014 -- Updated 2005 GMT (0405 HKT)
ウクライナ 旅客機消息絶ち墜落 撃墜か7月18日 4時14分 オランダからマレーシアに向かっていた旅客機がウクライナの上空で消息を絶ったあと、墜落したことが確認され、ロシアのメディアは、旅客機がロシアとの国境に近いウクライナ東部で撃墜されたと伝えています。
マレーシア航空は、オランダのアムステルダムを出発し、クアラルンプールに向かっていたマレーシア航空１７便が日本時間の１７日午後１１時１５分に消息を絶ったことを明らかにしました。
マレーシア航空によりますと、この旅客機はボーイング７７７型機で、乗客２８０人、乗員１５人が乗っていたということで、ロシアとの国境からおよそ５０キロ離れたウクライナ東部で、通信を絶ったとしています。
ロイター通信は、ウクライナ東部のドネツク州で旅客機の残骸が見つかり、墜落したことが確認されたと伝えています。
ロイター通信のカメラマンが現場で撮影したという写真では、煙が上がったり消防士が消火活動を行ったりしている様子や、黒こげになった破片が散乱している現場で、捜索活動が行われている様子がうかがえます。
一方、ロシアのインターファクス通信は、ウクライナ内務省の高官の話として、マレーシア航空の旅客機が、ウクライナ東部ドネツク州の上空で撃墜されたと伝え、乗客乗員全員が死亡したとしています。
これについてウクライナのポロシェンコ大統領は、「ここ数日間でウクライナの軍用機２機が撃墜されていて、マレーシア機が撃墜された可能性は否定できない」と述べ、ロシア側の関与を示唆しました。
これに対してウクライナ東部の親ロシア派は、「ウクライナ軍が撃墜した」と主張が真っ向から対立していて旅客機が墜落した原因は分かっていません。
オランダにある日本大使館では、マレーシア航空の現地事務所に問い合わせたり航空機が出発したアムステルダムの空港に職員を派遣したりして、日本人が搭乗していなかったか確認を急いでいます。
政府側と武装集団それぞれが関与否定マレーシア航空の旅客機が消息を絶った理由について、ウクライナ政府側と、親ロシア派の武装集団はいずれも撃墜されたという見方をしているものの、それぞれ関与を否定しています。
ウクライナの大統領府によりますと、ポロシェンコ大統領は、「ここ数日間で、ウクライナの軍用機２機が撃墜されており、マレーシア機が撃墜された可能性は否定できない」と述べ、新ロシア派の武装集団によって撃墜された可能性を示唆しています。
そのうえでポロシェンコ大統領は、「ウクライナ軍は、空中の飛行機を狙うような行動は一切とっていない」と強調し、ウクライナ軍が攻撃したとする親ロシア派の主張を否定しています。
その一方で、「ドネツク人民共和国」を名乗るウクライナ東部の親ロシア派は、「われわれは上空１０キロを飛ぶ航空機を撃墜できる武器を持っていない。ウクライナ軍が撃墜した」としており、双方の立場は真っ向から対立しています。
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