Malaysian jet tragedy (updated Saturday)

Why were commercial planes still flying over Ukraine? Who's to blame for the downing of the Malaysia Airlines yesterday is still an open question although US intelligence analysts believe it was likely a separatist group in Ukraine.

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Saturday morning update

Note: Audio for today's update appears after the full text which includes yesterday's story.

Why were commercial planes still flying over Ukraine?

SEOUL, AFP –  The downing of a Malaysia Airlines jet over rebel-held eastern Ukraine has raised questions over why the company persisted in flying in conflict-zone airspace that many other Asian carriers had abandoned months ago.

The air corridor over Ukraine has always been a crowded one for flights between Europe and Asia – particularly Southeast Asia – and re-routing around the airspace would mean an increase in flight time and fuel costs.

Nevertheless, a number of major Asian airlines, including South Korea's Korean Air and Asiana, Australia's Qantas and Taiwan's China Airlines, said Friday that they had started avoiding the area as much as four months ago, when Russian troops moved into Crimea.

"We stopped flying over Ukraine because of safety concerns," Asiana spokeswoman Lee Hyo-Min said.

Korean Air moved its flight paths 250 kilometres (160 miles) south of Ukraine from March 3 "due to the political unrest in the region", an official for the carrier told AFP.

A Qantas spokeswoman said its London to Dubai service used to fly over Ukraine, but the route was changed "several months ago", while Taiwan's China Airlines diverted its flights from April 3.

Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific and Pakistan International Airlines said their flight paths had changed "some time" ago.

Asked why Malaysia Airlines had not taken similar precautions, Prime Minister Najib Razak said international air authorities had deemed the flight path secure.

"The International Air Transportation Association has stated that the airspace the aircraft was traversing was not subject to restrictions," he said.

According to the European flight safety body Eurocontrol, the doomed plane was flying at a level known as "330", or approximately 10,000 metres or 33,000 feet.

The route had been closed to level "320" but was cleared for those flying at the Malaysian plane's altitude.

European and US airlines re-routed their flights as Kiev said flight MH17 was shot down in a "terrorist" attack, and a US official said intelligence analysts "strongly believe" it was downed by a surface-to-air missile.

And what about Thailand? This from today's Bangkok Post:

Thai Airways International (THAI) has re-routed all flights due to pass through airspace above the Russia-Ukraine border after Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 crashed in the area on Thursday.

"All THAI flights have been ordered to avoid flying near the zone in question even though the detour will result in longer times for European flights," said acting THAI president Chokechai Panyayong, adding that most flights to Europe would arrive at their destinations up to 20 minutes late.

Friday's stories

16:30

Here's a chilling description of the crash site. "It's not a disaster. It's hell": http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2014/07/flight-mh17-0

13:45

It appears the fight against AIDS has suffered a serious blow as many of those killed in the crash of MH17 were highly qualified researchers and medical personnel. Here is more from mashable.com: http://mashable.com/2014/07/18/aids-conference-malaysia-airlines/?utm_cid=mash-com-Tw-main-link

12:30

Here is more from AFP on the ill-fated passengers aboard flight MH17:

Malaysian Airlines said 283 passengers and 15 crew were aboard the plane – including 154 Dutch nationals, 27 Australians and 43 Malaysians.

As many as 100 of those killed in the crash were delegates heading to Australia for a global AIDS conference, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Malaysian jet, likely shot down, crashes in Ukraine

GRABOVE, Ukraine, AFP – A Malaysian airliner carrying 298 people from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed Thursday in strife-torn east Ukraine, with US officials saying it was shot down by a surface-to-air missile.

Ukraine's government said the jet was shot down in a "terrorist act", while comments attributed to a pro-Russia rebel chief suggested his men may have downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 by mistake, believing it was a Ukrainian army transport plane.

Russian President Vladimir Putin meanwhile said Kiev bore responsibility for the crash, which came as Ukrainian forces battle pro-Moscow insurgents in the east of the country.

As Malaysian investigators headed to the scene, the UN Security Council called an emergency session on Friday to discuss the disaster – the second to strike the airline in just four months.

Shocked world leaders called for an international inquiry to determine the causes of a disaster with potentially far-reaching political implications, with Britain demanding a UN-led probe.

There was no sign of survivors at the crash site, where an AFP reporter saw horrific scenes, with dozens of mutilated corpses and body parts strewn through the smouldering wreck of the Boeing 777.

Charred debris stinking of kerosene stretched for kilometres across the rebel-controlled zone in the Donetsk region. A top rebel leader said his forces were prepared to agree to a short ceasefire to allow for the recovery operation.

Shell-shocked locals said the impact felt "like an earthquake" in their village of Grabove, near the Russian border.

"Those poor people," said Natalia, 36. "Do you think they understood a thing about this war in Ukraine – even we don't understand it."

Intelligence analysts are reviewing data from a military satellite and other sources to determine whether the missile was launched by pro-Moscow separatists in Ukraine, Russian troops across the border or Ukrainian government forces, two US officials told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"We are working through all the analysis," said one official.

But there was little doubt that the plane was struck by a surface-to-air missile.

Social media posts by pro-Russian insurgents – most of them hastily removed – suggest the rebels thought they had shot down a Ukrainian army plane before realising in horror that it was in fact a packed Malaysian airliner.

At a press conference early Friday a sombre Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, dressed in black, said the world was "united in grief" over the disaster.

"This is a tragic day, in what has already been a tragic year, for Malaysia," he said.

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