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Eyewitness accounts: 'Many bodies were belted to the seats'

July 19, 2014 13:39 IST
A pro-Russian separatist looks at wreckage from the nose section of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane which was downed near the village of Rozsypne, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine.

Eyewitnesses in Eastern Ukraine have claimed that Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 went down after a huge explosion in the sky. The aircraft along with 295 passengers reportedly went down near the village of Grabovo.

Locals said that they saw everything blowing to pieces in the sky, both the plane and the bodies. Some even thought that they were being bombed, reported the Mirror.

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'Rebels do not possess the weapons required to shoot a plane at this height'

July 19, 2014 13:39 IST
Passengers' belongings are pictured at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region of Ukraine

Denying the involvement of rebels in the attack, a separatist rebel, Sergei, from nearby Krasnyi Luch, said that the rebels do not possess the weapons required to shoot a plane at such height.

A rescue worker at the site of the crash said that at least 100 bodies have been removed so far and the debris of the plane is spread over 15km in diameter. Many bodies were belted to the seats in the wreckage, the report added.

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Plane was flying at an attitude of 33,000 feet when it went off the radar

July 19, 2014 13:39 IST
An Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe monitor takes a photograph at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, near the settlement of Grabovo

Flight MH17 lost all contacts with the control room at 14:15 GMT as it flew towards the Russian border. Flight tracking data showed that the plane was flying at an altitude of 33,000 feet when it went off the radar.

The flight was carrying 280 passengers including 154 Dutch passengers, 27 Australians, 23 Malaysians, 11 Indonesians, six British citizens, four from Germany, four from Belgium, three from the Philippines, one from Canada and 15 Malaysian crew members.

The rest of the passengers are yet to be identified. Ukrainian officials believe none have survived, the report said.

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Ukrainian separatists blamed

July 19, 2014 13:39 IST
Pro-Russian separatists look at passengers' belongings at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 near the settlement of Grabovo

The accident has been blamed on separatist rebels. However, no separatist group has claimed responsibility for the crash as yet.

The accident comes just four months after Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 vanished with 239 people on board during its flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

 

Source: ANI