MH17 Malaysia plane crash in Ukraine: What we know
All 298 people on board a Malaysia Airlines plane have died after the airliner crashed in eastern Ukraine, close to the border with Russia.
Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was travelling over the conflict-hit region when it disappeared from radar. A total of 283 passengers, including 80 children, and 15 crew members were on board.
What type of plane was it?
Debris from the plane is strewn over several kilometres
The crashed plane was a Boeing 777-200ER, the same model as Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared while travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March.
The aircraft, manufactured in 1997, had a clean maintenance record and its last check was on 11 July, Malaysia Airlines said.
Malaysia's prime minister said there was no distress call before the plane went down.
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 - Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200ER
Crew: 15
Passengers: 283
Left Amsterdam: 10:15 GMT
Lost contact: 14:15 GMT at 10,000m (33,000ft).
What happened?
According to Malaysia Airlines, the plane departed Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport at 10:15 GMT (12:15 local time) on 17 July and was due to arrive at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 22:10 GMT (06:10 local time).
The airline lost contact four hours later at 14:15 GMT - 50km from the Russia-Ukraine border.
Footage later emerged of the crash site in territory controlled by pro-Russian separatists, and witnesses spoke of dozens of bodies on the ground.
Debris from the plane is strewn over several kilometres
What caused the crash?
The two sides in Ukraine's civil conflict have accused each other of shooting down the jet with a missile.
However, US Secretary of State John Kerry has said there is overwhelming evidence of Russian complicity in the incident, which took place above an area controlled by pro-Russian rebels. Russia denies the claims.
Mr Kerry said the US had seen major military supplies moving into Ukraine from Russia in the last month including a convoy of armoured personnel carriers, tanks and rocket launchers.
Intercepted calls suggested a Russian SA-11 missile system - also known as BUK - had been transferred to the rebels, he added, and the US had seen a video of a launcher being moved back into Russia after flight MH17 crashed.
Ukrainian authorities earlier released a recording they claimed was a conversation between pro-Russian militants admitting to shooting down the plane.
However, separatist leader Alexander Borodai accused the Ukrainian government of attacking the airliner itself.
Experts say flight crash investigators should be able to determine what caused the crash from traces left on the debris.
Buk surface-to-air missile system
the 48 hours running up to the MH17 crash, many airlines had chosen to keep flying in the area, data from flight tracker Planefinder shows.
According to Flight radar24, which also monitors live flight paths, the airlines that most frequently flew over Donetsk in the last week were: Aeroflot (86 flights), Singapore Airlines (75), Ukraine International Airlines (62), Lufthansa (56), and Malaysia Airlines (48).
At the time of the MH17 crash on 17 July, a number of other flights were in the area.
Selected flights over eastern Ukraine on the afternoon of 17 July
original post found herhttp://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28357880
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