A Malaysia Airlines passenger plane carrying 295 people was shot down over eastern Ukraine on Thursday, Ukrainian officials said, and both the government and the pro-Russia separatists fighting in the region denied any responsibility for downing the aircraft.
Malaysia Airlines said Ukrainian aviation authorities told the company they had lost contact with Flight MH17, a Boeing 777 from Amsterdam carrying 295 people, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from Tamak waypoint, which is 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border.
There were unconfirmed reports that the crashed plane's flight recorder (the so-called black box) had been located.
U.S. President Barack Obama said it is trying to determine if U.S. citizens were on board the crashed plane following reports that U.S. citizens were on board the plane. Calling the downed plane a "terrible tragedy," Obama said the U.S. will offer any help it can to determine what happened and why.
Pro-Russian separatists said they would have up to a three-day ceasefire in Eastern Ukraine to allow for recovery work at the site of the downed airliner, according to a RIA news agency.
As huge plumes of black smoke rose up near a village in eastern Ukraine, the fate of the passengers aboard the plane wasn't immediately known. An AP journalist counted at least 22 bodies at the wreckage site while Reuters reported that all 295 people aboard had died.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said his country's armed forces did not take action against any airborne targets. "We do not exclude that this plane was shot down, and we stress that the armed forces of Ukraine did not take action against any airborne targets," he said. "We are sure that those who are guilty in this tragedy will be held responsible."
The country's state security chief accused two Russian military intelligence officers of involvement in the Malaysian airline crash, basing his allegation on phone interception. He added the officers must be punished for this "crime."
But Russian separatists blamed the downing of the plane on the Ukrainian government, according to Russian media.
Reuters
An armed pro-Russian separatist stands at a site of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane crash in the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region, July 17, 2014.
"Apparently, it's a passenger airliner indeed, truly shot down by the Ukrainian Air Force,'' separatist leader Alexander Borodai told Russia's state-run Rossiya 24 TV broadcaster.
(For continuous updates from verified social media accounts about the situation, scroll to this article's bottom.)
Another separatist, Andrei Purgin, told The Associated Press that he was certain that Ukrainian troops had shot the plane down but gave no explanation or proof.
Purgin said he did not know whether rebel forces owned Buk missile launchers, but said even if they did, there had no fighters capable of operating it.
In a phone conversion, Russian President Vladimir Putin told President Barack Obama that a Malaysian jetliner crashed on Ukrainian territory, the Kremlin said. Obama asked his advisers to keep him updated, but the White House said it couldn't confirm the shootdown reports. The two leaders held a already planned call on the situation in Ukraine following expanded sanctions on Russia during which information became available from air traffic controllers about the plane.
A State Department spokeswoman said the U.S. embassy in Kiev was in touch with Ukrainian authorities, but the State Department did not have any further details on the plane, victims or causes. Secretary of State John Kerry had not yet spoken to other foreign leaders, she added.
Reuters reported that Ukraine's prime minister identified the shot-down plane as a missing Malaysian Airlines flight and has ordered an investigation. AYouTube video purported to show footage from moments after the plane went down.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said he was shocked by the reports and was also planning an investigation.
On his Facebook page, Ukraine's minister of internal affairs, Anton Gerashchenko, claimed that terrorists struck down the plane under Putin's orders.
Putin expressed his condolences to the Malaysian Prime Minister following the passenger plane crash.
In a CNBC interview, retired U.S. Gen. Barry McCaffrey said, "This was a major strike, a deliberate strike to get an aircraft at that altitude."
Retired Col. Ken Allard told CNBC, "To bring down an airliner from 33,000 feet you need a good air defense weapon, not just a missile itself and also the radar. That says Russian, and that says to me either a separatist element or the Russians themselves."
Boeing said it is aware of media reports and is gathering more information on the situation.
Dutch state broadcaster NOS reported that one of the country's travel agencies had 25 people booked aboard the flight, some headed to Kuala Lumpur and others planning to continue to Australia and New Zealand. Tour operator WTC had between 20 and 30 booked on the flight as well. It was not clear if all of them were on the plane.
Stocks sold off as investors moved into the safety of bonds and gold while awaiting more details on how a Malaysian Airline jet crashed in Ukraine.
Stocks had been languishing ahead of the first batch of headlines about the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 that crossed in the 11 a.m. hour. The Dow temporarily dipped more than 90 points as news wires confirmed an Interfax report that said the plane was shot down. The Dow has last nearly 150 points lower.
Gold, under selling pressure this week, settled 1.3 percent higher at $1,316 per troy ounce, and wheat, a major crop of Ukraine, jumped more than 2 percent on the CME. The yen gained further ground against other currencies, as the dollar slid with Treasury yields. The 10-year note yield fell to 2.46 percent from 2.50 earlier.
Wells Fargo Advisors strategist Scott Wren said the reaction in stocks was natural, and he has been saying the biggest risk to stocks this summer is event risk, not the U.S. economy.
Source: http://www.cnbc.com
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