Malaysian Airline shot down | The Compost Bin | Forums

U.S. officials have confirmed to several media outlets that the Malaysia Airlines passenger plane that crashed near the Ukraine-Russia border Thursday was shot down by a surface-to-air missile.

The origin of the missile remained unclear, and both government officials and pro-Russia separatists fighting in the region denied responsibility.

There were 298 people on board, 283 passengers, including 3 infants, and 15 crew members. Ukrainian authorities told U.S. Embassy officials that everyone on the plane was "believed dead" and that the aircraft debris was scattered over a 10-mile swath of land, ABC News reported.

Malaysia Airlines posted a list of passenger nationalities on its website for the 298 passengers and crew: 154 Dutch, 27 Australian, 43 Malaysian (including 15 crew and two infants), 12 Indonesian (including one infant), 9 British, 4 German, 4 Belgian, 3 Filipino and one Canadian. The airline said it did not yet know the nationalities of the remaining 41 passengers.

An aide to Ukraine's interior minister quoted by Interfax claimed the total number of dead in the crash was more than 300 and included 23 U.S. citizens.

http://news.yahoo.co.....26322.html

100 of the top AIDS researchers were on the flight

About 100 of the 298 people killed in the Malaysia Airlines crash were heading to Melbourne for a major AIDS conference, conference attendees have been told.

Delegates at a pre-conference in Sydney were told on Friday morning that about 100 medical researchers, health workers and activists were on the plane that went down near the Russia-Ukraine border, including former International AIDS Society president Joep Lange.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.a.....z37of2o82E

what will the world response be?