Malaysian passenger jet allegedly shot down near Ukranian border

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

Fox News: Malaysia Airlines passenger jet reportedly shot down in Ukrainehttp://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/07/17/malaysia-airlines-jet-reportedly-crashes-in-ukraine/http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/07/17/malaysia-airlines-jet-reportedly-crashes-in-ukraine/

A Malaysian Airlines passenger plane with 295 aboard was shot down by a surface-to-air missile in Ukraine near the Russian border, according to multiple reports.

The airline, the same one whose plane disappeared over the Indian Ocean in March, confirmed only that "an incident" had occurred involving the Boeing 777, which was en route to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam.

“Malaysia Airlines has lost contact of MH17 from Amsterdam," read a tweet from the airline. "The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace. More details to follow,” read a tweet from Malaysia Airlines’ account.

Multiple reports said the plane was shot down at cruising altitude. Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine's Interior Minister told The Associated press that the plane, carrying 280 passengers and 15 crew people onboard, was shot down.

Gerashenko says on his Facebook page the plane was flying at an altitude of 33,000 feet when it was hit Thursday by a missile fired from a Buk launcher. A similar launcher was seen by Associated Press journalists near the eastern Ukrainian town of Snizhne earlier Thursday.

The adviser also told Russian news agency Interfax that all onboard have been killed.

On March 8, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew on a route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, disappeared somehwere over the ocean. It has not been found.

See the second post on this thread.

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

Update: The Ukrainians accuse the Russians of shooting down one of their fighter jets last night. This story actually broke before the news of the airliner shoot-down.

Wall Street Journal: Ukraine Accuses Russia of Shooting Down Fighter Jethttp://online.wsj.com/articles/ukraine-accuses-russia-of-shooting-down-fighter-jet-1405600196http://online.wsj.com/articles/ukraine-accuses-russia-of-shooting-down-fighter-jet-1405600196

MOSCOW—Ukraine on Thursday accused Russia's armed forces of shooting down one of its fighter jets over Ukrainian territory, marking Kiev's most direct accusation yet of Moscow's involvement in the separatist conflict in the country's east.

A Russian military plane fired on and downed a Ukrainian SU-25 fighter jet that was flying over the town of Amvrosiivka in Ukraine's Donetsk region on Wednesday night, Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Spokesman Andriy Lysenko said at a briefing.

Relative to the Malaysian airliner crash, Ukraine says it has not retaliated for the shoot-down last night, and has not fired on any inbound or outbound aircraft. I'd say this is getting pretty dangerous all of a sudden.

Separatists initially claimed they were trying to shoot down a Ukrainian military plane, but now claim they also have not fired on any aircraft in Ukraine airspace.

Nothing being said right now by anyone can be believed. It will have to sort itself out in the next few hours.

Thankfully, we won't have to rely on anything the Malaysian government says about the incident.

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

Further Update: The story is congealing around the Separatists' initial statement that they were trying to shoot down a Ukrainian military jet, using a Russian-made BUT missile system, followed by their denial that they fired at anything.

That system functions via two independent radar guidance systems, but its shortcoming is that, in a multiple-plane environment, both systems will forget the initial target in favor of a larger, "brighter" target. Speculation internationally is that the Separatists attempted to shoot down another Ukrainian military jet but the missile dropped its lock on the smaller Sukhoi fighter and picked up on the Boeing 777 of Malaysian Airlines. There is also the possibility they mistook the Boeing 777 for a Ukrainian cargo plane.

U.S. military analysts assigned to NATO are said to be reviewing military radar, satellite and computer data and will be able to pinpoint within a few yards where the missile was fired from. The question is, will we ever know that information?

 

[kyredneck]

Incredible. So sad.

 

[preachinjesus]

And, given the inability of the international community and our leadership to muster any kind of outrage, this will go completely with reprisals. Oh sure, speeches will be given and brows will be beaten...but the offenders will not ever see justice brought to them. Incredibly sad and entirely avoidable.

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

Ukrainian Government: There were 23 U.S. citizens onboard Malaysian flight 17, which (I forgot to mention) was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. Lord be with their families at this time of tragedy.

And that leaves in question what the U.S. response should/will be. I hazard a guess the "should" is much different from the "will."

 

[exscentric]

http://news.msn.com/world/ukraine-says-rebels-shoot-down-malaysian-airliner-295-dead

This link has more info, but these links content tend to change during the day. 11:03 pacific time

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

All the links on this story will continue to change almost by the minute. My original links has updated about 20 times since I posted it.

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

American intelligence comes through again.

(Canadian) National Post: Malaysian plane was shot down by rebels, intercepted phone calls prove, Ukraine’s president sayshttp://news.nationalpost.com/2014/0...ed-phone-calls-prove-ukraines-president-says/http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/0...ed-phone-calls-prove-ukraines-president-says/

Ukraine’s security services produced what they said were two intercepted telephone conversations that they said showed rebels were responsible. In the first call, the security services said, rebel commander Igor Bezler tells a Russian military intelligence officer that rebel forces shot down a plane.

In the second, two rebel fighters – one of them at the scene of the crash – say the rocket attack was carried out by a unit of insurgents about 25 kilometers (15 miles) north of the crash site.

Neither recording could be independently verified.

No country other than the U.S. possesses the technology to produce telephone recording that quickly.

Meanwhile, Putin claims Ukraine shot down the passenger jet.

It is becoming apparent the pilots had some control over the airliner and were attempting to make a "controlled crash landing" but probably lost control of the aircraft either just before or at the point of impact. Large pieces of the airliner were seen, intact, lying in the Ukrainian countryside strewn over a nine-mile path leading to the crash site. Initially the separatist rebels were preventing Ukrainian and international humanitarian efforts and crash site investigators from getting to the scene, but Russia has now announced the rebels have agreed to a three-day cease-fire (as though the Russians was able to "convince" independent fighters) while investigators look over the site and bodies are removed from the area.