By NEIL MacFARQUHAR, DAVID M. HERSZENHORN and RICK GLADSTONE
JULY 17, 2014
MOSCOW — A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 with 295 people aboard was most likely hit by an antiaircraft missile before it crashed and burned on Thursday in an eastern Ukraine wheat field near the Russian border, in an area roiled by fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces.
Ukrainian officials called the crash an act of terrorism. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. of the United States, speaking in Detroit, said the plane had “apparently has been shot down. Shot down, not an accident. Blown out of the sky.”
“This is truly a grave situation,” Mr. Biden said. “Nearly 300 souls have been lost. The families need consolation and our prayers, and many questions need to be answered. And we’ll get those answers, and we’ll take action accordingly.” He added, “It’s important we get to the bottom of this sooner than later because of the possible repercussions that can flow beyond from this, beyond the tragic loss of life.”
Ukraine’s president, Petro O. Poroshenko, said in a statement that he was calling for an immediate investigation of the crash of the plane, which was en route to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from Amsterdam. There were no reported survivors among the 280 passengers and 15 crew members.
Mr. Poroshenko said he had called the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, to express his condolences and to invite Dutch experts to assist in the investigation. “I would like to note that we are calling this not an incident, not a catastrophe, but a terrorist act,” Mr. Poroshenko said.
Malaysia’s prime minister, Najib Razak, called for an investigation at the crash site and the unfettered cooperation of local authorities. “Malaysia is unable to verify the cause of this tragedy,” he said.
“No stone will be left unturned,” he added. “If it transpires that the plane was, indeed, shot down, we insist that the perpetrators must be brought to justice.”
President Obama spoke with Mr. Poroshenko and Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, from aboard Air Force One.
Reporters arriving at the scene near the town of Grabovo described dozens of lifeless bodies strewn about, mostly intact, in a field dotted with purple flowers, with remnants of the plane scattered across a road lined with fire engines and emergency vehicles. “It fell down in pieces,” said one rescue worker as tents were set up to gather the dead.
One passenger in a black sweater lay on her back, with blood streaming down her face and her left arm raised. The carcass of the plane was still smoldering, and rescue workers moved through the dark field with flashlights. Dogs barked in the distance, and the air was filled with a bitter smell.
A regional airline official said the plane had been flying at about 33,000 feet when radar lost track of it.
For months, eastern Ukraine has been the scene of a violent pro-Russian separatist uprising in which a number of military aircraft have been downed. But this would be the first commercial airline disaster to result from the hostilities.
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