Rebels allow access to area of Malaysian Airline plane crash

A Boeing 777 of Malaysia Airlines, in transit from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashed on Thursday in the Ukrainian region of Donetsk, in the armed conflict between the central authorities in Kiev and pro-Russian independence insurgents. In the plane traveled 298 people, 283 passengers (including many children) and 15 crew members. They all perished in the incident. Of these, 189 are Dutch, 29 Malaysians (including 15 crew and two babies), 27 Australians, 12 Indonesians (including another baby), 9 British, four Germans, four Belgians, three Filipinos, a Canadian, a New Zealander 10 without verified nationality, according to the company, reports Isabel Ferrer. Rescuers at the scene have recovered 181 bodies, as announced in a press conference by a spokesman of the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs. Two black boxes have been found.

The Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko did not hesitate to describe the incident as a “terrorist act ” while his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to Kiev claimed responsibility for resuming the offensive in the East.

The Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov, has denied Friday his country ‘s involvement in the alleged demolition. On Friday, Russian President insisted that the incident demonstrates the need of reaching as soon as possible a peaceful settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, according to the Kremlin. Putin has also stressed that the accident requires a ” careful and objective” research.

” We owe it to the families of the dead to discover what exactly happened and who is responsible,” the Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott emphasized for whom Russia’s initial response to the incident, in which at least have died 27 Australians, has been ” deeply unsatisfactory” by simply blaming Ukraine for what happened, France Press reports. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister David Cameron has called for today an inter ministerial cabinet crisis meeting to discuss the situation, Downing Street announced in a statement.

The OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) reported that a group of its experts is heading Friday to the scene of the Malaysian Airlines plane after the pro-Russian rebels who control the area have ensured the safety of the observers and international investigators. The OSCE has also announced it will hold a special meeting on Friday to discuss the incident.

The intelligence agencies of the United States concluded that the plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile, but have not yet managed to find out who launched it, Silvia Ayuso reports from Washington. A security source told CNN that radar had recorded how a system of ground-based missile was tracking an airplane just before the Boeing crashed. “This is a disputed area, will take time to gain information about the intentions of who was involved,” another source told The Washington Post.

Vice President Joe Biden made clear that the U.S. government does not believe that the incident has been due to an accident. The plane “was apparently shot down, it was not an accident,” said government number two from Detroit. Biden had spoken shortly before the president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, who reiterated the offer of assistance made by Barack Obama to work on whatever it takes to find out “what happened and why.”

The Boeing flew to 10,600 feet high and was 60 kilometers from the Russian border when it crashed and fell wrapped in a thick and huge cloud of black smoke in a field near the town of Shajtersk, 80 km from Donetsk. Around the wreckage, were scattered mutilated remains of passengers and their belongings. The accident area is controlled by the insurgents in the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk (RPD) territory. Authorities in Kiev and Donetsk independence immediately exchanged accusations of shooting down the device.

Gerashchenko Anton, director of the Interior Minister of Ukraine, said on Thursday in Kiev that the plane was shot down by insurgents using a Buk missile system. Gerashchenko said television channel Dozhd his department had dozens of witnesses the launch of a missile near Snezhnoe (in the area controlled by the separatists). Gerashchenko also accused Russia of Buk systems have delivered to the RPD. The rebels tried to take this type launchers near Lugansk one month ago, but only caught faulty equipment, Russia 24 channel reported.

Representatives of the RPD declared this chain lacking military means to bring down a plane flying at height in the stricken Boeing. Alexandr Borodái, Russian citizen who heads the Government of DPR, said its portable launchers could achieve “a maximum of 3,000 to 4,000 meters,” and accused the Ukrainian Air  Forces, which he described as “a deliberate provocation”. Borodái said he was willing to give the black box to  international experts, while Andrei Purgin Parliament President DPR said they want to send to Moscow, one of the fears of Kiev. So Obama and Poroshenko agreed in a phone conversation that the evidence of the incident should remain in Ukraine for investigation. The separatists say they have declared a “humanitarian” ceasefire in the area to facilitate it.

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Posted by Maleeha Tareen on Jul 19 2014. Filed under Latest News, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.