A Malaysia Airlines passenger plane carrying some 300 people crashed in the Donetsk region in Eastern Ukraine, close to the Russian border, on Thursday afternoon, and is beieved to have been shot down, according to international newswires. The place of the crash is 1,000 kilometers from Romania’s Eastern border.

There were no survivors, according to Ukrainian media. On the flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, there were154 Dutch passengers, and it is believed none of the passengers on the Boeing 777 survived. Romania's diplomatic missions abroad are trying to find out whether there were any Romanians on that plane. According to Reuters, 23 American citizens were also among passengers. The plane was carrying 280 passengers and 15 crew.

Witnesses near the crash site posted footage on YouTube from the crash moment - below -, and local media reported bodies were found on a 15-kilometer range. Malaysia Airlines announced on Twitter it lost contact with its plane while it was flying over Ukraine.

The Ukrainian presidency has officially said it believes the crash was caused by a pro-Russian ground-to-air militia missile, but Russian media says it might have been an Ukrainian anti-missile system that brought down the plane. Ukrainian president Poroshenko said the Ukrainian army has not fired any arm that could have brought down a place flying at 10,000 meters altitude.

Ukraine's airspace was closed for three days after the accident, and several airlines, including Lufthansa and Air France, said they will no fly routes in the region for the time being.

This is the second incident involving a Malaysian Airline plane this year, after a plane of the same airline disappeared in March in the Indian Ocean, and authorities later announced all the 227 passengers on board had died.

Malaysia's Prime Minister Mohd Najib Tun Razak said he was shocked of this second accident, and that an investigation was launched.

- To be updated –

editor@romania-insider.com