Malaysian plane reportedly shot down in Ukraine near Russian border

The U.N. Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Friday morning on Ukraine, with the downing of a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane on the agenda, as world leaders call for an investigation of the incident and Ukraine’s pro-Russian separatist fighters claim they have found many of the recording devices from the jet.

Britain's U.N. mission said it requested the meeting, which will also discuss Wednesday's downing of a Ukrainian air force fighter.

The Malaysia Airlines aircraft, carrying 298 people, was shot down over eastern Ukraine on Thursday, Ukrainian officials said, and both the Kiev government and the pro-Russian rebels fighting in the region denied any responsibility for downing the aircraft.

The flight was carrying 283 passengers and 15 crew members, the airline confirmed. Dozens of bodies were scattered around the smoldering wreckage in the village of Hrabove, located about 25 miles from the border with Russia. 

The majority of the passengers, 154, were from the Netherlands, where flags flew at half-staff on Friday. Forty-three were from Malaysia, including two infants and the 15-person crew; 27 were from Australia; 12 from Indonesia, including one infant; nine from the United Kingdom; four from Germany; four from Belgium; three from the Philippines; and one from Canada. The nationalities of the remaining 41 passengers have not yet been verified.

Early reports said the victims included 23 U.S. citizens, according to a Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser quoted by the Interfax news agency.

As many as 100 passengers were en route to the 20th International AIDS Conference, which starts Sunday in Melbourne, Australia, according to Victoria Premier Denis Napthine. Among those believed dead was a former president of the International AIDS Society, Joep Lange, a well-known HIV researcher from the Netherlands.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said "there is clearly a need for a full and transparent international investigation" into the plane crash in Ukraine. The White House in a statement released late Thursday also called for a "full, credible and unimpeded international investigation" as soon as possible.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a phone call with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, demanded a "thorough and unbiased" investigation, and Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott called for “a full impartial international investigation.” 

An assistant to Igor Girkin, the self-described commander in chief of the Donetsk People's Republic, said Friday on condition of anonymity that eight of the plane's 12 recording devices had been located, according to the Associated Press, but did did not elaborate.

Also on Friday, Russia's RIA news agency quoted a rebel leader as saying, the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic promised a cease-fire for two to four days to allow recovery work at the site.

The fighters will give unhampered access to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, International Civil Aviation Organization and Ukrainian detectives, said Andrei Purgin, a senior leader of the group.

The announcement came as Ukraine closed the airspace over eastern regions, the country's Infrastructure Ministry said, and the Federal Aviation Administration issued a notice to airman prohibiting U.S. flight operations until further notice in the airspace over eastern Ukraine.

Malaysia Airlines announced that all its European flights would alter flights to avoid Ukraine. The airline has begun contacting the family members of the victims.

The plane did not issue any distress calls before the crash, said Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak, adding that the flight route was declared safe by the global civil aviation body.

Razak, who addressed a news conference after speaking with leaders of Ukraine and the Netherlands and with President Barack Obama, said "no stone will be left unturned" in finding out what happened to Flight 17.

Al Jazeera’s Scott Heidler reported that the area is controlled by rebel fighters and has seen heavy fighting recently. 

"We’re talking a large area of what looks like at least two fields. There is a farm road right in between them, the big wreck, as I was talking about, on one side, farmers on the other,” he said.

Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, said on his Facebook page that the plane was flying at an altitude of 33,000 feet when it was hit by a missile fired from a BUK surface-to-air missile system, which Russia began producing in the mid-1990s.

A senior U.S. official confirmed that the flight was shot down by a surface-to-air missile. 

Russian news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Alexander Borodai, the self-appointed prime minister of the Donetsk region, as saying rebels intend to call a three-day cease-fire to allow an investigation of the crash. He told Al Jazeera he blamed the downing of the plane on Ukraine's government forces.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, meanwhile, said the downing was an act of terrorism and called for an international investigation into the crash. He said his country's armed forces didn't shoot at any airborne targets.

"We do not exclude that this plane was shot down, and we stress that the armed forces of Ukraine did not take action against any airborne targets," he said. "We are sure that those who are guilty in this tragedy will be held responsible." 

Obama, speaking in Delaware on Thursday afternoon, said the U.S. would "offer any assistance to help determine what happened and why." The Kremlin said that Putin and Obama discussed the plane crash in Ukraine during a phone call. 

Malaysia Airlines confirmed on its Twitter feed earlier Thursday that it had lost contact with Flight 17, which was traveling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, adding that "the last known position was over Ukrainian airspace." 

The airline also said that it received notification from Ukrainian air traffic control that it lost contact with the plane, a Boeing 777, about 31 miles from the Russia-Ukraine border. 

Razak said on his Twitter page that he was "shocked" by the reports of the crash and that the government was "launching an immediate investigation."