(CNN) -- A Malaysia Airlines passenger jet crashed in a rebel-controlled part of eastern Ukraine on Thursday, spurring swift accusations from Ukrainian officials that terrorists shot down the aircraft. The United States has concluded a missile shot down the plane, but hasnt pinpointed who was responsible, a senior U.S. official told CNNs Barbara Starr. The Boeing 777 with 298 people aboard fell from the sky near the town of Torez in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, officials said. A top Ukrainian official said the plane, which was on the way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was flying at about 10,000 meters (nearly 33,000 feet) when the missile hit. Nationalities aboard MH17 154 Dutch 43 Malaysian (including 15 crew) 27 Australian 12 Indonesian 9 British 4 German 4 Belgian 3 Filipino 1 Canadian 41 Unverified A radar system saw a surface-to-air missile system turn on and track an aircraft right before the plane went down, the senior U.S. official said. A second system saw a heat signature at the time the airliner was hit, the official said. The United States is analyzing the trajectory of the missile to try to learn where the attack came from, the official said.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 04:09:40 +0000
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