MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Malaysia jet killing 298 was apparently downed by Ukrainian separatists

The Ukrainians appeared to point the finger at either Russia or pro-Russian separatists (Pic Reuters)

A suspected Russian-made surface-to-air missile downed a Malaysia Airlines jet in a separatist-controlled corner of eastern Ukraine on Thursday, prompting the Kiev government to denounce an “act of terror” that killed all 298 people on board.

 U.S. intelligence officials confirmed, but could not identify the origins of, the missile strike that led to the deadliest downing of a civilian passenger plane in recent decades. One Ukrainian government official, however, said the Boeing 777 traveling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur appeared to have been hit by an advanced Russian-made missile system that recently came into the hands of the pro-Moscow separatists waging a bloody uprising in the east.

The Ukrainians appeared to point the finger at either Russia or pro-Russian separatists. In a late-night news conference, Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, chief of Ukraine’s Security Service, said his government had obtained intercepts of phone calls between members of Russia’s main intelligence directorate and pro-Russian separatists in which they allegedly discussed shooting down the airplane, according to the Kiev Post.

Images capturing what appeared to be the explosion showed a massive cloud of smoke in the air as the plane was hit about 4:21 p.m. local time. Blurred lines of debris rained down on the ground. Rescue workers plied water over the smoldering remains, which landed in a rural patch of eastern Ukraine where the crash site appeared to be a ghastly scene of twisted metal and bodies splayed out in an ashen tableau.

In Amsterdam, an audible gasp went up at the news conference Thursday night at Schiphol airport when it was announced that 154 Dutch passengers had been on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. The airline’s senior vice president, Huib Gorter, read out a list of passenger nationalities that included 27 Australians as the next-largest group. The airplane’s 15 crew members were Malaysian, as were 28 passengers. The nationalities of 41 passengers had not been established at the time. Several of those on board were heading for a major international conference on HIV/Aids in Melbourne, Australian officials said.

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's leader has called the Malaysia Airlines plane crash in eastern Ukraine “deeply shocking”. Describing the disaster as a “tragic day” in a “tragic year” for Malaysia, Najib Razak said the investigation “must not be hindered in any way”.

The Boeing 777, with the call sign MH17, was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. It is the second disaster suffered by Malaysia Airlines this year. Flight MH370 disappeared en route from Malaysia to China in March and has still not been found.

Other airlines have announced they are now setting flight paths to avoid eastern Ukraine.

In his statement, the Malaysian leader said the plane's route had been declared safe by the International Civil Aviation Organization. He said the plane had not made a distress call.

“Malaysia is unable to verify the cause of this tragedy. But we must - and we will - find out precisely what happened to this flight,” Mr Najib said.

“If it transpires that the plane was indeed shot down, we insist that the perpetrators must swiftly be brought to justice.”