Malaysian Airlines Plane MH17 Shot down in eastern Ukraine

Malaysian Airlines seems to be going through a rather rough patch. First the MH370 went missing mysteriously in March and now in a similarly shocking incident, another Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 went down after being hit by a missile near the Russian border in Ukraine.

Malaysia Airlines has lost contact of MH17 from Amsterdam. The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace. More details to follow.

— Malaysia Airlines (@MAS) July 17, 2014

The plane was on its way to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam and was carrying 280 passengers and a 15 member crew. Claims are made by the anti Russian activists in Ukraine that the flight was shot down over pro Russian rebel controlled territory.

According to Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to the interior ministry in Ukraine, the plane was flying at 33,000 feet altitude and it was hit by a missile fired from a BUK or SA-17 Grizzly anti aircraft launcher.

BUK is a mobile launcher that can track and hit 6 targets flying from different directions simultaneously. It was unclear who won such a weapon in this conflicted area where Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces are engaged in battle. A separatist leader denied their involvement in the shooting but confirmed that the plane did indeed crash in the area. He said they didn’t have the capacity to afford a defense weapon that can hit a plane at such an altitude.