Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 shot down in Ukraine!

[LazyLion]

MALAYSIA DEMANDS PROTECTION OF MH17 CRASH SITE
by Dan Martin

Malaysia issued an impassioned plea Saturday for the MH17 disaster site in Ukraine to be protected from tampering, saying evidence was being compromised in what it called a "betrayal of the lives that were lost."

Concerns are mounting over the integrity of the crash zone in rebel-held eastern Ukraine, with the government in Kiev on Saturday accusing Moscow of helping pro-Russian separatist insurgents destroy evidence.

"Malaysia is deeply concerned that the crash site has not been properly secured," Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai told reporters.

"The integrity of the site has been compromised, and there are indications that vital evidence has not been preserved in place."

Ukraine says the rebels shot down the Malaysian Airlines plane Thursday, killing all 298 aboard.

Liow, who leaves for Kiev later Saturday to join Malaysian officials already there in hopes of assisting an investigation, called "for all parties to protect the integrity of the crash site, and to allow the investigation to proceed".

A Ukraine government statement said pro-Russia rebels had removed 38 bodies to a morgue in the insurgent-controlled city of Donetsk where "specialists with clearly Russian accents" were to conduct autopsies.

It also said separatist forces were blocking access to the site for Ukrainian investigators and international observers.

"Terrorists with the support of Russia are trying to destroy proof of this international crime," it said.

An AFP crew at the scene of the crash Saturday said that armed rebels were preventing journalists from accessing the site and shot in the air to warn them back.

"Failure to stop such interference would be a betrayal of the lives that were lost," Liow said.

Malaysia Airlines on Saturday released what it called a final tally of those killed, saying 192 Dutch nationals, 44 Malaysians, and 27 Australians were among the dead.

Smaller numbers of Indonesians, Britons, Germans, Belgians, and other nationalities also were aboard.

A Malaysian team including two air accident investigators arrived in Kiev earlier Saturday, hours after Prime Minister Najib Razak appealed for access to the MH17 crash.

Najib said he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone late Friday to stress that "the site should not be tampered (with)," national news agency Bernama reported.

The United States has said the Boeing 777 was shot down by a missile fired from rebel-held territory, a possible casualty of Ukraine's battle with pro-Russia insurgents.

The disaster has deeply shocked Malaysia, still grappling with the trauma of the unexplained March 8 disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 with 239 passengers and crew aboard, including 38 Malaysians.

"Wrong target, who committed this atrocity?" leading Malay-language daily Utusan Malaysia said of MH17 on its front page Saturday, echoing the tone of most leading newspapers and Malaysian social media chatter.

In an address to his nation late Friday, Najib demanded justice if it is determined that the plane was shot down, condemning what he called an "inhumane, uncivilised, violent and irresponsible act".

He said the Muslim-majority country would hold an emergency sitting of parliament -- expected Wednesday -- to vent Malaysian anger over the disaster, and that all flags in the country would be flown at half-mast.

"Of course there is anger. Why must this happen only to us (in) Malaysia? I really feel like beating that Russian, Vladimir Putin," said Mohamad Shidee Mohamad Ghazali, 28, a welder with the state utility company Tenaga Nasional.

Civil servant Nor Azizah Johar, 31, said her childhood friend Mohamad Ali Mohamad Salim was aboard the flight. They had planned to meet up during the coming Eid al-Fitr Islamic holiday.

"I am shocked that such an incident can happen," she said.

"I leave it to Allah. What can we do? We are just pawns in this issue."

Stunned world leaders have urged a full investigation, which could further fan the flames of Russia's confrontation with Ukraine, the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War, if pro-Russian rebels are found responsible.


Source : Sapa-AFP /ns
Date : 19 Jul 2014 13:03

 

[LazyLion]

MERKEL, PUTIN AGREE ON INTERNATIONAL PROBE OF MH17 CRASH

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed for an international investigation into the downing of a Malaysian Airlines plane over Ukraine, Berlin said on Saturday.

The two leaders, who spoke on the telephone, "agreed that an international, independent commission under the direction of ICAO (UN's International Civil Aviation Organization) should quickly have access to the site of the accident... to shed light on the circumstances of the crash and move the victims," said a German government statement.

A Kremlin statement on the same phone call said that "both sides stressed the importance of a thorough and objective investigation of all circumstances relating to what has happened" and said Merkel gave a "positive assessment of Russia's readiness to send its representative to participate in the investigation."

The two leaders also agreed that a contact group comprising Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE should meet "quickly" with the aim of reaching a ceasefire in the conflict between Kiev and the pro-Moscow rebels in eastern Ukraine, said the German government statement.

"The chancellor once again asked President Putin to exercise his influence over the separatists in order to reach this objective," it said.

In a possible barrier to further talks, however, the Kremlin statement said the contact group should include separatist representatives, a move opposed by Kiev.


Source : Sapa-AFP /ns
Date : 19 Jul 2014 14:35

 

[LazyLion]

MH17 DISASTER WIPES OUT ENTIRE MALAYSIAN FAMILY OF SIX

An entire family of six that had been returning home after three years living abroad was among the 44 Malaysians killed in the MH17 disaster, media reports said Saturday.

Tambi Jiee, 49, and his wife Ariza Ghazalee, 46, perished along with their four children when the Malaysia Airlines flight went down in eastern Ukraine.

They were reportedly returning to Malaysia after her husband's three-year posting in Kazakhstan for energy giant Shell, first taking a short European holiday.

Images of a wailing Jamilah Noriah Abang Anuar, 72 -- Ariza's mother --dominated front pages of Malaysian dailies on Saturday.

"I lost my daughter and her family in a blink of an eye," the New Straits Times quoted her as saying from her home in the eastern Malaysian state of Sarawak on Borneo island.

Ariza had posted a photo on Facebook showing the family's luggage as they prepared to embark from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport for the flight to Kuala Lumpur.

"17 July 2014, starting our new hijrah (journey), Alhamdulillah (praise God)," read the accompanying message.

Her son Afzal Tambi also posted his thanks and farewells to friends from Kazakhstan on Thursday.

"Before it gets too cheesy, I just want to thank everyone who made it bearable for me to live here and for sharing with me amazing memories to reminisce on."

The Boeing 777 came down with 298 onboard in a separatist-held region of Ukraine, with the United States claiming it was shot down in a missile attack, a possible casualty of the Kiev government's battle with pro-Russia rebels.

The disaster has deeply shocked Malaysia, which is still grappling with the trauma of the March 8 disappearance of MH370 with 239 passengers and crew aboard, including 38 Malaysians.

No trace of the MH370 plane has been found, a mystery that has severely damaged Malaysia's image abroad and left furious passengers' relatives deeply anguished and demanding answers.


Source : Sapa-AFP /kn
Date : 19 Jul 2014 08:01

 

[Dave]

What shot it down?
Guessing the shoulder one - no cars or trucks or permanent structure?

View attachment 133625

View attachment 133629

View attachment 133631

This article shows what a BUK launcher looks like, it also shows a BUK launcher in a rebel held town, driving down a road, and then being hauled back to Russia very quickly after the airliner was downed (with at least one missile missing from the launcher).

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...lls-claim-PROVES-Russia-shot-Flight-MH17.html

 

[Seriously]

MH17 DISASTER WIPES OUT ENTIRE MALAYSIAN FAMILY OF SIX

Source : Sapa-AFP /kn
Date : 19 Jul 2014 08:01

Tragic!

 

[LazyLion]

UKRAINE SAYS RUSSIA HELPING DESTROY CRASH EVIDENCE
By PETER LEONARD and EVGENIY MALOLETKA
Associated Press

Ukraine accused Russia on Saturday of helping separatist rebels destroy evidence at the crash site of a Malaysia Airlines plane shot down in rebel-held territory - a charge the rebels denied.

As dozens of victims' bodies lay in bags by the side of the road baking in the summer heat, international monitors at the crash site Saturday said they were still being hampered by heavily armed rebels.

"Some of the body bags are open and the damage to the corpses is very, very bad. It is very difficult to look at," OSCE spokesman Michael Bociurkiw told reporters in a phone call from the site, where the smell of decaying bodies was unmistakable.

He said the 24-member delegation was given further access Saturday to the crash site but their movements were being limited by the rebels. The site sprawls eight square miles (20 square kilometers) across sunflower and wheat fields between two villages in eastern Ukraine.

"We have to be very careful with our movements because of all the security," Bociurkiw said. "We are unarmed civilians, so we are not in a position to argue with people with heavy arms."

Flight 17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was carrying 298 people from 13 nations when it was shot down Thursday in eastern Ukraine close to the Russian border, an area that has seen months of clashes between government troops and pro-Russia separatists.

At an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, the U.S. pointed blame at the separatists, saying Washington believes the jetliner likely was downed by an SA-11 missile and "we cannot rule out technical assistance from Russian personnel."

The government in Kiev said militiamen have removed 38 bodies from the crash site and have taken them to the rebel-held city of Donetsk. It said the bodies were transported with the assistance of specialists with distinct Russian accents.

The rebels are also "seeking large transports to carry away plane fragments to Russia," the Ukrainian government said in a statement Saturday.

In Donetsk, separatist leader Alexander Borodai denied that any bodies had been transferred or that the rebels had in any way interfered with the work of observers. He said he encouraged the involvement of the international community in assisting with the cleanup before the conditions of the bodies worsens significantly.

As emergency workers put some 80 bodies into bags Saturday, Bociurkiw stressed that his team was not at the site to conduct a full-scale investigation.

"We are looking at security on the perimeter of the crash site, looking at the status in the condition of the bodies, the status in the condition of the debris, and also personal belongings," he said.

Ukraine also called on Moscow to insist that the pro-Russia rebels grant international experts the ability to conduct a thorough, impartial investigation into the downing of the plane - echoing a demand that President Barack Obama issued a day earlier from Washington.

"The integrity of the site has been compromised, and there are indications that vital evidence has not been preserved in place," Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said at a news conference in Kuala Lumpur.

He called for immediate access for Malaysia's team at the site to retrieve human remains.

Ukraine says it has passed along all information on developments relating to Thursday's downing to its European and U.S. partners.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in a phone call Saturday that an independent, international commission led by the International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO, should be granted swift access to the crash site, said government spokesman Georg Streiter.

The commission should examine the circumstances of the crash and recover the victims, said Streiter, adding that Merkel urged Putin to use his influence over the separatists to make that happen.

In the Netherlands, forensic teams fanned out across the country Saturday to collect material including DNA samples that will help positively identify the remains of the 192 Dutch victims.

Police said in a tweet that 40 pairs of detectives from the National Forensic Investigations Team would be visiting victims' relatives over the coming days.

The location of the black boxes remains a mystery and the separatist leadership remained adamant Saturday that it had not located them. Bociurkiw also said he had received no information on their whereabouts.

Aviation experts say, however, not to expect too much from the flight data and cockpit voice recorders in understanding how Flight 17 was brought down.

The most useful evidence that's likely to come from the crash scene is whether missile pieces can be found in the trail of debris that came down as the plane exploded, said John Goglia, a U.S. aviation safety expert and former National Transportation Safety Board member.

The operation of the Flight 17 doesn't appear to be an issue, he said.

Obama called the downing of the plane "a global tragedy."

"An Asian airliner was destroyed in European skies filled with citizens from many countries, so there has to be a credible international investigation into what happened," he said.

Both the White House and the Kremlin have called for peace talks in the conflict between Ukrainian government forces and Russian-speaking separatists who seek closer ties to Moscow. Heavy fighting took place Friday around Luhansk, less than 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the crash site, with 20 civilians reported killed.

Malaysia Airlines, meanwhile, said Saturday it has no immediate plans to fly the relatives of the 298 passengers and crew killed to visit the crash site in Ukraine because of security concerns.

A spokesman for the airline says next of kin are being cared for in Amsterdam while a team from the carrier, including security officials, was in Ukraine assessing the situation.

In the Netherlands, travelers flying out of Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport laid flowers and signed a condolence book before boarding their flights Saturday, including those on the latest Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 to Kuala Lumpur.


Source : Sapa-AP /ns
Date : 19 Jul 2014 15:15

 

[Vrotappel]

This article shows what a BUK launcher looks like, it also shows a BUK launcher in a rebel held town, driving down a road, and then being hauled back to Russia very quickly after the airliner was downed (with at least one missile missing from the launcher).

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...lls-claim-PROVES-Russia-shot-Flight-MH17.html

I really hope America had every inch of Ukraine under surveillance since the incident. Whoever is responsible must pay.

 

[LazyLion]

UKRAINE ACCUSES PRO-RUSSIA REBELS OF LOOTING CRASH SITE
by Marion THIBAUT and Dmitry ZAKS in Kiev

Ukraine on Saturday accused pro-Russian insurgents of destroying evidence at the crash site of a Malaysian jet whose downing in the rebel-held east has drawn global condemnation of the Kremlin.

Outraged world leaders have demanded Russia's full cooperation with what is quickly becoming a monumentally challenging probe into the shooting down of a Kuala Lumpur-bound flight from Amsterdam with 298 people from nearly a dozen countries on board.

Malaysia's transport minister also expressed alarm over "indications that vital evidence has not been preserved in place" by militias guarding the scene of the worst carnage since the crisis in Ukraine first turned deadly at the start of the year.

Rebels backed up by muscular diplomatic support from the Kremlin have shown few signs of being ready to cooperate with an investigation that could potentially blame them for attacking the Boeing 777 jet.

A team of nearly 30 international monitors who returned to inspect the wreckage were met with Kalashnikov-wielding militias who gave them access to only the outskirts of the field -- its swaying sunflowers hiding dismembered remains of charred and decomposing bodies of victims whose lives were cut short on Thursday.

The grisly site has turned into the epicentre of the Cold War-style standoff between the West and Moscow over the future over the war-scarred former Soviet state.

The Ukrainian government issued a furious statement declaring that the "terrorists with the support of Russia are trying to destroy proof of this international crime."

Kiev accused militia fighters of refusing to hand over "black box" data recorders and inexplicably moving 38 bodies to a morgue in the insurgent-controlled city of Donetsk.

Rebel leader Oleksandr Borodai told reporters that militias had never recovered the data recorders and denied tampering with any evidence.

But he also dismissed an earlier announcement by Kiev of the two sides having agreed to set up a 20-kilometre buffer zone around the expansive site where remains of flight MH17 hit the ground.

"That has not been an issue," Borodai said.

His comments came only minutes before Berlin announced that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin had issued a joint call for an independent commission to have immediate access to the site.

Putin and Merkel "agreed that an international, independent commission under the direction of ICAO (the United Nations' International Civil Aviation Organization) should quickly have access... to shed light on the circumstances of the crash and move the victims," the German government said.

The diplomatic wrangling was accompanied by uninterrupted fighting across Ukraine's eastern rustbelt -- a Russia-speaking region of seven million people who largely view the more nationalistic west of the splintered country with mistrust.

Ukrainian forces reported taking full control of the main airport of the rebel stronghold of Lugansk -- like Donetsk the capital of its own "People's Republic" -- and launching all-out offensives against two nearby towns.

Government troops said they had also established full control of Donetsk airport for the first time since it was seized at the end of May in a bloody raid that saw militias lose more than 40 fighters -- most of them Russian nationals.

Kiev said the latest clashes killed five soldiers and wounded another 20.

US President Barack Obama and major world leaders now agree that the Malaysia Airlines jet was blown out of the sky at 33,000 feet (10,000 metres) by a sophisticated surface-to-air missile fired from rebel-controlled territory.

Kiev has gone a step further by accusing militias of using a Russian-supplied Buk system to down the jet after confusing it with a Ukrainian military transporter.

Ukraine has released recordings of what it said was an intercepted call between an insurgent commander and a Russian intelligence officer as they realised they had shot down a passenger jet.

But Putin has blamed the tragedy on Kiev's three-month military operation and said its new leaders were solely responsible for security across the strategic nation -- which since its 1991 independence has marked the geopolitical fault line between Russia and the West.

Moscow has also drawn some governments' ire by questioning why the packed jet was flying over a combat zone in the first place.

The plane's downing came less than a day after the United States unleashed punishing sanctions against some of Russia's most important energy and military firms -- most of them with links to Putin -- and urged more hesitant European leaders to follow suit.

"We want Russia to take the path that would result in peace in Ukraine, but so far, at least, Russia has failed to take that path," Obama said on Friday in a special address on Ukraine.

"I think that this certainly will be a wake-up call for Europe and the world that there are consequences to an escalation of the conflict in eastern Ukraine."

The European Union -- many of its member states dependent on Russian gas -- took the far less punitive step on Friday of curbing some future investments in Russia and leaving the option open for broader sanctions.

US Department of Defense spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said "it strains credulity that (the missile) can be used by separatists without some measure of Russian support and assistance."

Putin rejects all charges of providing either funding or military support to the insurgents in order to punish the new pro-Western leaders in Kiev for the February ouster of a Kremlin-backed president.

Rebel commanders have also denied being in possession of any functioning Buk systems -- a claim that contradicts an earlier announcement of them having seized some from Ukrainian troops.

Kiev has released footage purportedly showing militias trying to covertly send one Buk unit back across the Russian border.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Valeriy Geletey said the rebels had probably used a Buk system that Russia had seized from Ukraine during its March annexation of the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.


Source : Sapa-AFP /ns
Date : 19 Jul 2014 15:31

 

[kianm]

Some of the bodies fell through peoples roving into their house

Pictures are NSFL

http://lightbox.time.com/2014/07/18/malaysia-airline-ukraine-crash-jerome-sessini/#1

I can not imagine the horror

 

[Seriously]

Crash claims top AIDS researchers heading to Melbourne

About 100 of the 298 people killed in the Malaysia Airlines crash were heading to Melbourne for a major AIDS conference, conference attendees have been told.
Delegates at a pre-conference in Sydney were told on Friday morning that about 100 medical researchers, health workers and activists were on the plane that went down near the Russia-Ukraine border, including former International AIDS Society president Joep Lange.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/cras...o-melbourne-20140718-zuaw3.html#ixzz37vIAaD1A

 

[Unhappy438]

This article shows what a BUK launcher looks like, it also shows a BUK launcher in a rebel held town, driving down a road, and then being hauled back to Russia very quickly after the airliner was downed (with at least one missile missing from the launcher).

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...lls-claim-PROVES-Russia-shot-Flight-MH17.html

God the Daily mail have done a terrible job with that article, especially towards the end.

 

[LazyLion]

MALAYSIA AIRLINES STAFF TRY TO COPE WITH DISASTERS
By SATISH CHENEY
Associated Press

Coping with two disasters within a few months has left some Malaysia Airlines employees so shaken that they've been unable to function properly at work, a union official said Saturday.

The airline suffered its second disaster in less than five months Thursday when Flight 17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down in Ukraine with 298 people onboard. The carrier also is still dealing with the mystery of Flight 370, which disappeared March 8 with 239 people onboard en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia President Ismail Nasaruddin said morale among airline personnel is low as employees try to come to terms with the two disasters.

"Some of them are sad and very depressed," he said at a news conference. "We have not overcome the battle of missing MH370, and within such a short period, this incident has taken place involving another Malaysia aircraft."

Meanwhile, about 50 former high school classmates of a flight attendant who was aboard Flight 17, Nur Shazana Mohamed Salleh, gathered at a mosque Saturday in Putrajaya, a district just outside Kuala Lumpur, to pay final respects to their friend and others who died in Thursday's disaster.

"From the ages of 13 to 17, we did everything together," said the organizer of the gathering, who gave only the name Nik. "We're all like sisters. May God bless her and others on the plane."


Source : Sapa-AP /ns
Date : 19 Jul 2014 17:00

 

[LazyLion]

RESCUERS GATHER DEAD AT UKRAINE CRASH SITE UNDER REBEL WATCH
by Marion THIBAUT

The stench of death is now becoming almost unbearable over the wreckage of the stolen lives where Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 came down in eastern Ukraine.

Two days after the passenger jet was apparently shot down in rebel-held territory, spraying debris and body parts for kilometres around, the focus of emergency workers and international monitors at the scene is for the remains of the 298 victims to be collected.

After lying for hours under the summer sun the bodies of some are already becoming black and bloated.

Firemen in blue uniforms pull on their gloves as they set off through fields of wheat to where makeshift markers show the location of another corpse.

There they start packing the remains of another victim into a large black body bag before carrying them away on a stretcher to a waiting bus.

All of this is being done under the watchful eyes of armed pro-Russian rebels who closely control the access to the crash site deep in their territory and fire a warning shot into the air to push journalists back.

"We are securing the zone as the experts are working there. It is standard procedure at this sort of site," the rebel commander in charge of security at the site told AFP, refusing to give his name.

From here he says the bodies -- 27 on Saturday morning alone -- are being taken to the morgue in the insurgent-held city of Donetsk, some 50 kilometres.

Outside the morgue though, another AFP journalist is warned off by two Kalashnikov-wielding insurgents and a worker refuses to comment on where the bodies are.

What happens to the bodies is of pressing concern, with relatives of the victims from Amsterdam to Australia desperate to recover the remains of their loved ones.

The Ukrainian government has accused the rebels of destroying evidence and spiriting away the bodies but the separatist leaders have pledged to allow investigators and recovery workers access.

But international monitors have so far struggled for access and on Saturday a delegation from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) only got through to a small part of the site after a tense standoff with armed insurgents.

There they can see that the recovery operation is rudimentary at best and lacks even the most basic equipment.

"Do you have any refrigerated tents?" one monitor asks one of the salvage team standing among a crowd of armed men. The worker just shakes his head.

Nearby lie the scattered possessions of the victims: suitcases torn open, passports, books, children's toys.

Just an hour and a half later and the observers are already on their way back to base having once again been prevented from surveying the whole area and most importantly the main impact site.

"We had the possibility to speak to those in charge, the local residents and to those who are collecting the bodies," says Alexander Hug, the head of the delegation.

Shortly after the monitors leave two buses carrying some 50 people pull up to the scene. They are nurses from a local hospital and miners, dressed in their work clothes and covered in soot, who have come to help.

"This is the second time that I've come to help but I hate it here," says Zhenya, 21.

"Already yesterday they picked us up at the mine but what horror -- all these mutilated, rotting bodies."


Source : Sapa-AFP /ns
Date : 19 Jul 2014 16:55

 

[LazyLion]

DUTCH BANKS ACT ON MH17 CREDIT CARD LOOTING REPORTS

Dutch banks said Saturday they were taking "preventative measures" after reports of credit cards being looted from the Ukrainian crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, where 192 Dutch citizens died.

"International media report that victims' bank cards have been stolen," the Dutch Banking Association said in a statement

"Banks are taking preventative measures as necessary," it said, adding that any losses suffered by relatives of the dead would be paid back.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 came down in rebel-held eastern Ukraine on Thursday with 298 people on board.

The area has been under the control of Russian-backed separatists since the crash, preventing international investigators from gaining access.


Source : Sapa-AFP /mjs
Date : 19 Jul 2014 17:59

 

[LazyLion]

RUSSIA NOT PROVIDING ENOUGH SUPPORT ON PLANE CRASH: BRITAIN

Britain on Saturday said Russia was not exerting enough influence over pro-Moscow separatists in eastern Ukraine to get them to allow international access to the Malaysian plane crash site.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said it seemed increasingly likely that separatists had shot down the Malaysia Airlines plane, killing all 298 people on board.

"We're not getting enough support from the Russians, we're not seeing Russia using their influence effectively enough to get the separatists, who are in control of the site, to allow the access that we need," Hammond told reporters.

"This is not about Russia and the West -- this is about the whole community demanding that the proper access is made available to this site, the victims are properly recovered and evidence is secured.

"The world's eyes will be on Russia to see if she delivers on her obligations in the next couple of hours.

"We are demanding that the Russians use their influence to ensure that access is granted. That's the only way we can get to the truth and bring those accountable to justice."

He said it was clear that monitors at the crash site had not been given full access by the separatists, and some areas were not possible to reach at all.

Hammond said Russia's ambassador to London would be called into the Foreign Office so Britain's views can be expressed in no uncertain terms.

"We still can't be categoric about the cause of this terrible accident but there's a growing body of evidence which clearly suggests a missile fired from separatists in eastern Ukraine," he said.

"Our focus now is on securing the site so there is a proper international investigation to identify the cause and the perpetrators and bring them to justice and making sure the victims are dealt with with proper dignity and respect."

Hammond said that while the total number of British victims was thought to be 10, London could not be "absolutely certain" that the investigation would not identify more British nationals.

Specialists from the Britain's Air Accidents Investigation Branch are in Ukraine, as part of an international effort to look into the crash.


Source : Sapa-AFP /ns
Date : 19 Jul 2014 17:03

 

[LazyLion]

US: CAN'T RULE OUT RUSSIAN ROLE IN PLANE DOWNING

U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Friday that the United States cannot rule out that Russia helped in the launch of the surface-to-air missile that shot down a Malaysia Airlines jet over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.

Power said the U.S. believes the plane was likely downed by an SA-11 missile fired from an area in eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists. She said Russia has provided SA-11s and other heavy weapons to the separatists.

Britain's U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, who called the emergency meeting, was more emphatic on assessing blame for the crash.

"It is clear where responsibility lies: with the senseless violence of armed separatists and with those who have supported, equipped and advised them," he said. "The council must be united in condemning these actions, and in demanding that these groups disarm, desist from violence and intimidation and engage in dialogue through the democratic mechanisms that are available to them."

The Malaysian jet was flying at a cruising altitude of 33,000 feet (10,000 meters) from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on an established flight corridor when it was shot down Thursday, Power said.

She said that early Thursday a Western reporter reported an SA-11 system in separatist-controlled territory near Snizhne, "and separatists were spotted hours before the incident with an SA-11 SAM system close to the site where the plane came down."

"Separatists initially claimed responsibility for shooting down a military transport plane, and claimed responsibility and posted videos that are now being connected to the Malaysian Airlines crash," Power said. "Separatist leaders also boasted on social media about shooting down a plane, but later deleted these messages."

"Because of the technical complexity of the SA-11, it is unlikely that the separatists could effectively operate the system without assistance from knowledgeable personnel. Thus, we cannot rule out technical assistance from Russian personnel in operating the systems," she said.

Power said Ukraine also has SA-11 missiles but the United States is not aware of any in the area where the plane was shot down.

She said the downing of the Malaysian airlines jet also follows a pattern of attacks on aircraft by the separatists in June and very recently on Monday and Wednesday.

"If indeed Russian-backed separatists were behind this attack on a civilian airliner, they and their backers would have good reason to cover up evidence of their crime," Power told the council. "Thus it is extremely important than an investigation be commenced immediately."

Power called for a cease-fire by Russia, pro-Russian separatists and Ukraine so investigators can immediately get to the site.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin did not respond to the U.S. allegations but called for an international commission to investigate the crash.

He asked why Ukraine allowed civilian aircraft to fly over an area where military clashes and airstrikes were taking place, and where anti-aircraft systems were operating, and called on investigators to also determine whether Ukraine met its international obligation to ensure the safety of the flying public and "prevent disasters from occurring."

"Today, Kiev declared a full closure of the airspace in the conducting of the so-called anti-terrorist operation," Churkin said. "Why couldn't this have been done earlier, not later when (there were) hundreds of victims?"

Ukraine's U.N. Ambassador Yuriy Sergeyev reiterated that the downing of the Malaysian airliner would not have happened if Russia did not provide sophisticated anti-aircraft systems to the rebels.

He said that intercepted telephone conversations between rebel leaders and a Russian military intelligence colonel "confirms the terrorists are standing behind this crime," stressing that immediately after the crash, a rebel military leader boasted in social media of shooting down what he thought was a Ukrainian jet.

Sergeyev said communications and intercepts, photos and videos indicate that the rebels have at least two SA-11 missile systems, also known as Buk. He added that detained "terrorists," including two Russian citizens who were going to join the rebels, confessed that the Buk system arrived from Russia.

The entire Security Council called for "a full, thorough and independent international investigation, in accordance with international civil aviation guidelines, and for appropriate accountability." It stressed the need for "immediate access by investigators to the crash site to determine the cause of the incident."

At the start of Friday's emergency meeting, all diplomats in the crowded council chamber rose to their feet and bowed their heads in silent tribute to those who died.

Ambassadors from all countries with passengers on the flight -Netherlands, Malaysia, Australia, Indonesia, United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Philippines, Vietnam, Canada, New Zealand and the United States - all spoke, demanding an independent investigation and calling for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon offered the "full cooperation" of the U.N. in an international investigation, saying it must be "full and transparent" and anyone responsible must be brought to justice, U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said. Ban said the International Civil Aviation Organization has offered to put together an international team.

U.N. political chief Jeffrey Feltman, who briefed the council, expressed hope for "a serious and sustained effort to end the fighting and concentrate positively on Ukraine's future." He said Ban has asked him to return to Kiev and Moscow in the coming days to promote peace efforts.


Source : Sapa-AP /kn
Date : 19 Jul 2014 02:21

 

[scudsucker]

 

[LazyLion]

As crass as that is.... it hits the nail right on the head.

 

[genetic]

God the Daily mail have done a terrible job with that article, especially towards the end.

The daily mail is a terrible publication... full stop.

 

[LazyLion]

Putin killed my son....
http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/putin-killed-my-son-says-distraught-dad-1.1722458