Malaysia Airlines Flight #MH17 'Shot Down In Ukraine Near Russian Border'

Malaysia #MH17 crash site witness: bodies, debris, passports scattered. A Malaysian Airlines plane en route from Amsterdam to Malaysia has crashed in eastern Ukraine. There were 285 people and 15 crew members on board the Boeing-777 aircraft.

Graphic images and footage showed a pall of smoke, charred wreckage and bodies at the crash scene in the rebel-held eastern Ukraine village of Grabovo.

This event coverage is expected to shift the focus of media attention on Gaza-Israel news coverage to #MH17 MAS Crash.

Interfax news agency said the plane came down 20miles (50kms) short of entering Russian airspace.

It "began to drop, afterwards it was found burning on the ground on Ukrainian territory," an unnamed source said.

Reuters quoted emergency service personnel at the scene who said body parts from the plane's passengers are scattered around up to 15km from the crash site, and at least 100 bodies were on the ground.

There are no signs of survivors at the scene of the crash near the village of Grabovo, in rebel-held territory close to the border with Russia.

Both sides in Ukraine's civil conflict accused each other of shooting down the plane with a missile. It is still not clear why the plane came down.

It is the second disaster suffered by Malaysia Airlines this year.

The perpetrators will swiftly be brought to justice if flight MH17 was indeed shot down over eastern Ukraine as claimed by the Ukrainian government, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak declared today.

#MH17 TRAGEDY: 'Pro-Russian rebels admit to shooting down plane'. The chilling audio HERE: https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/24491122/we-shot-down-a-plane-rebel-leader-in-leaked-audio/?cmp=twitter

Flight MH17 is said to have been flying at an altitude of 32,000ft when it was downed

These are the first images of aircraft debris from the scene

Flight MH17 had been due to enter Russian airspace when contact was lost

The crash site is in an area controlled by Ukraine's separatist rebels

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak at the MH17 Emergency Ops Centre, July 18, 2014.