“More than 300 innocent people have been killed … it is known that 23 US citizens were killed,” Zoryan Shkyryak was quoted as saying.
The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane which was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region.
Dozens of bodies were scattered around the smoldering wreckage of the passenger jet that crashed in a field in eastern Ukraine.
An emergency services rescue worker said at least 100 bodies had so far been found at the scene, near the village of Grabovo, and that debris from the wreckage was spread across an area up to about 15 km in diameter.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said he was shocked by reports that the Malaysia Airline plane had gone down over Ukraine and said he was launching an investigation.
“I am shocked by reports than an MH plane crashed. We are launching an immediate investigation,” Najib said on his Twitter page.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko believes a “terrorist act” was the cause of the crash.
“Poroshenko thinks this of the plane that was brought down: it is not an incident, not a catastrophe, but a terrorist act,” Press Secretary to the President, Svatoslav Tsegolko said. A rebel leader was quoted as saying that Ukrainian forces shot down the airliner.
Edited by Emmanuel Thomas
