What we know, and don't, 1 day after Ukraine crash
One day after the crash of a Malaysian jetliner carrying 298 people in eastern Ukraine, here's what is known, and what has been claimed:
The cause
U.S. officials and an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister have said a surface-to-air missile brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 as it flew Thursday from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
All 298 people aboard died.
U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power told the U.N. Security Council in New York on Friday the missile was likely fired from a rebel-held area near the Russian border. Independent aviation experts have agreed a missile was the likely cause, but so far, there's been no proof.
Ukraine's government, the pro-Russia rebels who oppose it and Russia have all denied shooting down the passenger plane.
The official investigation into the crash and its cause has only begun.
The black boxes
The whereabouts of the plane's flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder remained unknown Friday. The rebels gave conflicting reports about whether they had found them. Russia's foreign minister said his country had no intention of acquiring them and that they should be given to international aviation organizations.
Experts in air accident investigations said the boxes' contents could be key to establishing what happened to the Boeing 777 in the moments before it crashed. The thud of a missile hit or the acoustic shock wave emitted by an explosion could have been picked up by the cockpit recorder, they said.
The investigation
According to international civil aviation regulations, Ukraine should take the lead in investigating an air crash on its territory.
Ukraine has called for an international probe, and the United States has offered to assist. But access to the site in rebel-held lands 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Russian border remained difficult and dangerous Friday.
It was still uncertain whether the rebels would allow Ukrainian government officials to pass through their checkpoints. A spokeswoman for Ukraine's emergency services accused rebel militiamen of interfering with recovery operations.
The victims
By midday, 181 bodies had been recovered, according to emergency workers.
A Ukraine Foreign Ministry official said remains of the dead would be taken to government-controlled Kharkiv for identification. Andrei Purgin, a leader of the pro-Russian separatists, said the bodies will be taken to the Black Sea city of Mariupol, also controlled by the government.
Passengers included 192 Dutch, 29 Malaysians, 28 Australians, 12 Indonesians, 10 Britons, four Germans, four Belgians, three Vietnamese, three Filipinos and one person each from the U.S., Canada, New Zealand and Hong Kong.
Malaysia Airlines regional vice president Huib Gorter told reporters at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport the carrier was making an initial payment of $5,000 to families of all victims to cover their immediate costs.
Downed plane could alter course of Ukraine fight
The downing of a passenger jet in Ukraine is likely to be a turning point in the country's conflict. But which way it turns depends mainly on who carried out the attack and how convincingly it can be proved to the world.
With suspicion falling heavily on pro-Russian insurgents, the event could provide an opportunity for Russian President Vladimir Putin to disengage from his increasingly uncontrollable allies in eastern Ukraine.
But if enough doubt persists, positions could harden in both Russia and the West. The West could toughen its sanctions against Russia and help Ukraine's military, prompting Putin to dig in for an even higher-stakes battle.
The disaster has already drawn the world closer into the Ukraine conflict, the worst crisis between Russia and the West in a generation.
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Russia's air defence Buk-2M armoured launcher vehicles |
A Russian-made surface-to-air missile has emerged as the most likely cause of the suspected downing of a Malaysian airliner over Ukraine, analysts said on Friday, as claim and counter-claim swirl over who launched the weapon.
The vehicle-mounted "Buk" missile system is capable of soaring to the height of a civilian airliner like Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, unlike more widely available shoulder-launched weapons, defence experts said.
The Ukrainian and Russian militaries both use the device, but pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine had just hours before the disaster announced that they had seized a number of Buk systems themselves.
Rebel leader gives bizarre account of plane crash
A top pro-Russia rebel commander in eastern Ukraine has given a bizarre version of events surrounding the Malaysian jetliner crash — suggesting many of the victims may have died days before the plane took off.
The pro-rebel website Russkaya Vesna on Friday quoted Igor Girkin as saying he was told by people at the crash site that "a significant number of the bodies weren't fresh," adding that he was told they were drained of blood and reeked of decomposition.
The Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777 was shot down Thursday, killing all 298 people aboard. The plane was flying 10,000 meters above an area where Ukrainian forces have been fighting separatist rebels. Each side accuses the other of downing the plane.
Who is to blame? Crash investigators face struggle
To figure out why a Malaysian jetliner fell from the sky, investigators will use the wreckage of any missile found to determine where it came from and who fired it, experts said Friday. That may be easier said than done in the middle of a war zone.
The first international monitors to arrive on the scene, 24 hours after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 came down, found bodies strewn on the ground and restrictions from armed militiamen.
That gives a sense of the formidable obstacles investigators face in deciphering a disaster scene spread over 20 square kilometers (eight square miles) of contested ground in eastern Ukraine -- amid a conflict in which both sides have interests that may outweigh a desire to uncover the truth.
"We are in a country that is at war, and that is in a war of communication," aviation analyst Gerard Feldzer said in Paris. "Everyone is pushing a pawn."
Singapore 'stands in solidarity' with Malaysia: MFA statement on MH17
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs called for a "full and transparent" investigation into the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, and reaffirmed that Singapore "stands in solidarity" with its neighbouring country.
The MFA statement issued on Friday (July 18), in full, reads as follows:
Singapore is shocked and saddened to learn of the tragic crash of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH17 on 17 July 2014. The Government and people of Singapore send our deepest condolences to the families of the victims in this time of profound grief. We also stand in solidarity with the Government and people of Malaysia during this difficult period.
It is important that a full and transparent investigation take place to establish what caused the crash. The investigation team should be given full access to the affected areas and evidence. We stand ready to offer any possible assistance.
At this point, there have been no reports of Singaporean victims. MFA remains in close contact with MAS and the relevant airport authorities to ascertain the nationality of the unverified passengers. Singaporeans who require consular assistance should contact the MFA Duty Office (24-hours) at 6379 8800, 6379 8855 (24 hours); by fax at 6476 7302; or via email at mfa_duty_officer@mfa.gov.sg
World calls for Ukraine cease-fire after crash
World leaders called for an immediate cease-fire in eastern Ukraine on Friday and demanded speedy access for international investigators to the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines jetliner shot down over the country's battlefields.
The strong words came amid the contrasting images of emergency workers and off-duty coal miners fanning out across picturesque sunflower fields searching for charred pieces of wreckage from the Boeing 777.
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