07-19-2014, 09:24 AM
CLARIFICATIONS AND UPDATES
Passengers of 11 Nationalities on Board
-Netherlands: 189 -Malaysia: 44 (including 15 crew and two infants) -Australia: 27 -Indonesia: 12 (including one infant) -United Kingdom: 9 -Germany: 4 -Belgium: 4 -Philippines: 3 -Canada: 1 -New Zealand: 1 -United States: 1 -Unconfirmed nationalities: 3
Note: The NY Post and other media sources reported earlier that 23 Americans were on the flight. That was false; the above numbers were confirmed by Malyasia Airlines.
Recovery and Site Investigation
Recovery experts from Malaysia and the Netherlands are now in the Ukraine, attempting to negotiate with Russian separatists for access to the crash site. Some reports indicate that the scene has been mostly untouched, while others claim that separatists have removed some bodies and taken them to a morgue.
Ukranian officials issued a warning to victims' families that credit cards should be blocked due to reports of looting.
Black Box
Yesterday, media reported that a Ukranian official claimed that the black box / flight recorder was still in the Ukraine. Today, that's been walked back -- no one really knows where it is, but initial reports claimed the separatists had grabbed it right away to send to Russia for analysis.
Flight Path
Malaysia Air was flying at 33,000 feet when it was (reportedly) tracked and (definitely) hit by the missile. It was flying in unrestricted air space on a path still being used by several airlines.
Some airlines had chosen to avoid Eastern Ukraine altogether previously, while others like Malaysia Air followed the international aviation guidelines and flew at the recommended altitude and outside of restricted space.
Who Shot Down the Plane?
Yesterday, US President Obama and US military officials told the media that they are waiting for evidence from the investigation. But, Obama clearly pointed the finger at Russia and Putin, saying that separatists were likely to blame and they couldn't have done it without training and equipment from the Russians. (Five various types Ukranian aircraft had reportedly been shot down by separatists in previous weeks.) Obama said that Putin could put an end to the violence if wanted to and urged him to do so.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott also made a public statement. “Overnight, a monitoring mission from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe did gain temporary access, but it was driven off by gunfire presumably from the Russians and rebels,” Mr Abbott said.
“This does highlight though the difficulty and danger of this mission.” Mr Abbott said efforts to “sanitise” the site would not be tolerated. “The site needs to be secure … and frankly anyone who tries to obstruct this is no friend of justice and is no friend of peace,” Mr Abbott said.
The Russian Foreign Minister called Abbott's comments "unacceptable" because he "assigned guilt without evidence". I think that's BS, "presumably" isn't definitive and Russia could and should have reeled in the separatists so the scene could be processed safely; they didn't. (Russia's FM must find Obama's statements really really unacceptable.)
The Ukrainian officials have directly stated that the Russian separatists (they call them "terrorists") shot down the plane using equipment supplied by the Russian military.
Passengers of 11 Nationalities on Board
-Netherlands: 189 -Malaysia: 44 (including 15 crew and two infants) -Australia: 27 -Indonesia: 12 (including one infant) -United Kingdom: 9 -Germany: 4 -Belgium: 4 -Philippines: 3 -Canada: 1 -New Zealand: 1 -United States: 1 -Unconfirmed nationalities: 3
Note: The NY Post and other media sources reported earlier that 23 Americans were on the flight. That was false; the above numbers were confirmed by Malyasia Airlines.
Recovery and Site Investigation
Recovery experts from Malaysia and the Netherlands are now in the Ukraine, attempting to negotiate with Russian separatists for access to the crash site. Some reports indicate that the scene has been mostly untouched, while others claim that separatists have removed some bodies and taken them to a morgue.
Ukranian officials issued a warning to victims' families that credit cards should be blocked due to reports of looting.
Black Box
Yesterday, media reported that a Ukranian official claimed that the black box / flight recorder was still in the Ukraine. Today, that's been walked back -- no one really knows where it is, but initial reports claimed the separatists had grabbed it right away to send to Russia for analysis.
Flight Path
Malaysia Air was flying at 33,000 feet when it was (reportedly) tracked and (definitely) hit by the missile. It was flying in unrestricted air space on a path still being used by several airlines.
Some airlines had chosen to avoid Eastern Ukraine altogether previously, while others like Malaysia Air followed the international aviation guidelines and flew at the recommended altitude and outside of restricted space.
Who Shot Down the Plane?
Yesterday, US President Obama and US military officials told the media that they are waiting for evidence from the investigation. But, Obama clearly pointed the finger at Russia and Putin, saying that separatists were likely to blame and they couldn't have done it without training and equipment from the Russians. (Five various types Ukranian aircraft had reportedly been shot down by separatists in previous weeks.) Obama said that Putin could put an end to the violence if wanted to and urged him to do so.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott also made a public statement. “Overnight, a monitoring mission from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe did gain temporary access, but it was driven off by gunfire presumably from the Russians and rebels,” Mr Abbott said.
“This does highlight though the difficulty and danger of this mission.” Mr Abbott said efforts to “sanitise” the site would not be tolerated. “The site needs to be secure … and frankly anyone who tries to obstruct this is no friend of justice and is no friend of peace,” Mr Abbott said.
The Russian Foreign Minister called Abbott's comments "unacceptable" because he "assigned guilt without evidence". I think that's BS, "presumably" isn't definitive and Russia could and should have reeled in the separatists so the scene could be processed safely; they didn't. (Russia's FM must find Obama's statements really really unacceptable.)
The Ukrainian officials have directly stated that the Russian separatists (they call them "terrorists") shot down the plane using equipment supplied by the Russian military.