Malaysia Airlines jet crashes in Ukraine with 298 aboard

A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 with about 300 people on board crashed in eastern Ukraine near the Russian border on Thursday, the Ukraine government and a regional European aviation official reported. The Interfax news agency said the plane had been shot down.

In a statement, Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko said he was seeking an immediate investigation. He did not deny it might have been shot down.

A regional airline official said the plane had been flying at about 33,000 ft when radar trackers lost it over eastern Ukraine, near the Russian border.

Malaysia Airlines, still reeling from the mysterious loss of another Boeing 777 flight in March, said it had lost contact with the flight, MH17, flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, while it was flying over Ukraine.

"There were 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board the plane," Malaysian Airlines vice president Huib Gorter told reporters.

Air traffic control lost contact with the Boeing 777-400 around 14:15 (local time) near the Russian-Ukrainian border, he said. Flight MH17 took off from Schiphol shortly after noon and was supposed to land in Kuala Lumpur at around 06:10 am local time, Gorter added.