Tragedy struck earlier today when Malaysian Airline flight MH17 crashed in Ukraine, near the Russian border. The area has been rife with violence because of the Ukranian conflict that erupted there in April of this year. All 295 people that were aboard the commercial jet died, including 23 American citizens. This event is absolutely tragic.
The Boeing 777 was at an altitude of 33,000 feet when it was struck by ground-to-air missiles. It is assumed that the jet was accidentally hit; it’s unclear what motivation there would have been for an intentional hit of a civilian plane.
Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine has been destroyed by separatist insurgency.
This is a screenshot from FlightAware, showing the last tracked location of the flight.
The plane departed Amsterdam and was headed to Kuala Lumpur.
It crashed near the Russian border about 4:30 p.m. local time (9:30 a.m. EDT).
The plane was allegedly shot down by a powerful Russian Buk rocket.
According to available reports online, flight MH17 came down 20 miles short of entering Russian airspace.
It has been reported that armed pro-Russian separatists arrived at the crash site and are in control.
Investigations all over the world are being launched.
It is still unknown what the exact reason was for this act of violence.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko believes a “terrorist act” was the cause. Ukranian officials say that their armed forces were not involved.
Only time will tell the reason for this tragedy, once official investigations are underway. Hopefully some sense can be made from the terrible events of the day. Keep the victims of this crash and all of their loved ones in your thoughts. Hopefully, answers can be found.
