July 18, 2014 The Scuttlebutt
“A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 with 298 people aboard exploded, crashed and burned on a flowered wheat field Thursday in a part of eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russia separatists, blown out of the sky at 33,000 feet by what Ukrainian and American officials described as a Russian-made antiaircraft missile.” Crash photos and video show the horrorific destruction of the plane and all those onboard. U.S. military officials believe the plane was taken down by a Russian missile system known as the SA-11 or Buk. It’s unclear however who fired the missile, and the blame game has already begun. Area residents “spoke of bodies falling from the sky.” Ukraine has released audio that they believe ties pro-Russian separatists to the downing of the plane.
Reports suggest 100 of the passengers onboard the flight were headed to an AIDS conference, including top researcher Joep Lange. Check out a realtime graphic of how planes are avoiding Ukrainian airspace. Take a look at a brief history of other civilian planes that have accidentally been shot down. Here’s what the tragedy means for Russia’s relationship with the West. And before taking off, one of the now-deceased passengers jokingly posted a photo of the plane to social media, saying “If it disappears, this is what it looks like.” [NYT]
Posted By: Jeni Fa
Friday, July 18th 2014 at 1:33PM
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