A Malaysian plane has been shot down in the Ukraine.

[WeAreEternal]

The flight mh17 from Amsterdam to kuala lumpor with 295 people on board, it was a boing 777.
It was shot down with a buk ground to air missile.
They say there are no survivors.

It's awful.

Pprune (again) says

People on board by nationality[17]
Nationality Number
Netherlands 143
Malaysia 37
Australia 27
United States 23
Indonesia 12
United Kingdom 6
France 6
Germany 4
Belgium 3
Canada 1
Unknown 35
Total 295

That family with the baby...there are no words.
I flew today, calming myself by reminding myself that the chances of anything happening in the air are so small.

There was just some really intrusive film of the bereaved families boarding a bus at Schipol on the BBC News - the cameras should just stay the hell away from them.

Hanks Red I missed that.

I'm so exhausted, I can barely keep my eyes open, but I can't stop watching the news.

Just posted on the chat thread.

Happy for the family with the baby, but I feel it's insensitive to interview them.
What about the those who died and their families?

Hassled - I'm in total agreement. Seeing those families in such a state of shock and grief was completely unnecessary. I'm so upset and angered by the media's incessant need to intrude on tragedy and grief.

My thoughts are to the victims and families.

Eighty children?

Oh my goodness, I have only just heard of this.
How truly terrible.

OMG the consequences of this are very worrying..... I am just in shock . the world has gone mad . Israel was/is bad enough, Syria ...now this . If there is a hell I hope the people get found /caught and get given get a one way ticket.

I am so saddened by this. All those poor people. They must have been so frightened.

There is a picture of the luggage all piled up. Just heartbreaking.

Trouble in Libya tonight too

The only tiny sliver of comfort is that they probably wouldn't have known it was happening. It would have been instant I imagine, rather than having terrorists on board making threats. As I said, a tiny sliver

from guardian live blog

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said: "Undoubtedly, the government in whose air space this happened bears responsibility for this terrible tragedy," according to a Kremlin statement (Russian).
He also said "this tragedy would not have happened if there were peace in this land, or in any case, if [Kiev] had not renewed hostilities in south-eastern Ukraine."
He said that he has given "instructions to the military so that they have all the necessary help in the investigation of this crime", and that he's requested the government's civilian agencies to assist as best in can in the investigation. He added that "no one has the right" to make conclusions without comprehensive, "objective information about the incident".

Ukraine intelligence has also released information they have captured from alls between pro russian separatists...basically backing up the claim they made a mistake.

www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/separatists-admit-downing-a-civilian-plane-in-tapped-conversation-full-transcript-356545.html

Putins statement is worrying.

When the BBC news zoomed in on that lonely planet guide in the wreckage. That's what got me. I had those in my bag when I was young, and travelling a similar route.

Thinking of the families of all those on board.

So we have a black box that has gone to Moscow.

A President clearly laying blame on Ukraine.

A separatist group who claimed to have shot down a cargo plane.

And an alleged smoking gun of a incepted phone call.

Fucking scary stuff.

Surely the black box should be sent somewhere neutral for analysis?

Isn't the black box the property of Malaysian Airlines? If I were the Dutch government I'd be demanding it went to the Netherlands.

Putins statement is scary.

We just have to have courage and be who we are, we've been through scary times before but most immediately we have to hope for those who live in Ukraine.

how far do you think the dutch would get demanding stuff from Putin?
could cause more problems, is my guess

The UK and US will do the demanding on behalf of the Dutch through the UN Security Council Meeting the UK has called for tomorrow over the issue.

The Dutch, don't really need to do much tbh.

It's absolutely shocking and a horrific coincedence that the same airline has lost two full passenger flights in such quick succession.

I wouldn't be trusting reports from Ukraine intelligence or Russia atm. They both have a very obvious agenda. No-one has admitted firing the missile so everyone is going to be blaming everyone else.

One country or the other has to take responsibility for the black box just now. They can't leave it lying in the middle of a conflict zone and Russia is more stable than Ukraine so, although it makes me uneasy, I can see why it would be sent to Russia.

It's such an awful situation. The poor families.

I can't believe they've launched a ground offensive in Gaza too. It makes a mockery of their afternoon ceasefire to use the opportunity to mass troops on the border.

The question is what will happen in retaliation? 23 US citizens? I am surprised at how few on board were Malaysian, and in some way slightly relieved, as they have had a bad enough year, but my heart goes out to all those families affected by this needless act.