:00:00. > :00:07.This is BBC World News Today with me, Daniela Ritorto.
:00:08. > :00:10.A Malaysian Airlines plane with 295 people on board
:00:11. > :00:20.'s We will build live across the world assessing the impact of this
:00:21. > :00:25.disaster. -- we will be alive. Pictures appear to show
:00:26. > :00:35.the plane after it came down Debris is seen falling from the
:00:36. > :00:37.darkened sky in the moments after the crash.
:00:38. > :00:40.Malaysia Airlines confirmed that it lost contact with flight MH17
:00:41. > :00:53.from Amsterdam which was en route to Kuala Lumpur.
:00:54. > :00:57.Hello and welcome to this special coverage.
:00:58. > :00:59.A Malaysia Airlines plane with nearly 300 people
:01:00. > :01:02.on board has crashed in Ukraine near the Russian border.
:01:03. > :01:05.There are claims it was shot down - but Ukraine
:01:06. > :01:07.and pro-Russian separatists are both denying responsibility.
:01:08. > :01:10.There has been fighting on the Ukrainian-Russian border
:01:11. > :01:14.since March, after the overthrow of the Ukrainian government.
:01:15. > :01:17.Flight MH1-7 took off from Amsterdam just after midday local time,
:01:18. > :01:24.Its flight path took it over Ukraine's Donetsk region
:01:25. > :01:29.and it came down near the village of Grabovo.
:01:30. > :01:31.Four months ago, another Malaysia Airlines plane is
:01:32. > :01:36.believed to have crashed with over 200 people on board.
:01:37. > :01:46.With the latest our correspondent Richard Galpin.
:01:47. > :01:54.A plume of smoke rising into the sky in eastern Ukraine this afternoon.
:01:55. > :01:59.Local people said it was a plain which had just crashed. There is no
:02:00. > :02:04.confirmation this was the Malaysian airline which came down with almost
:02:05. > :02:08.300 people on board. Eyewitnesses in the region say that they have seen
:02:09. > :02:14.burning wreckage and bodies on the ground. Malaysian Airlines quickly
:02:15. > :02:23.put out this message on social media.
:02:24. > :02:29.The manufacturer, Boeing, said it was investigating. Flight
:02:30. > :02:32.#ColourWhite had taken from Amsterdam and was reported to be
:02:33. > :02:37.cruising at more than 30,000 feet eastern Ukraine, and area of intense
:02:38. > :02:44.conflict between separatists and Ukrainian military. The pro-Russian
:02:45. > :02:50.separatists control parts of eastern Ukraine and have done for several
:02:51. > :02:54.months. It has shot down military planes and helicopters in the past.
:02:55. > :02:58.They are known to have short-range anti-aircraft missiles and according
:02:59. > :03:05.to some reports, have also been seen with heavy weapons. We are talking
:03:06. > :03:09.about something every significant. The secessionist have used tanks.
:03:10. > :03:13.Bigger not find those lying on the street. They have supplies of
:03:14. > :03:17.relatively sophisticated weapons. It would be damaging for them and the
:03:18. > :03:19.brush in case if they have got the weapons which can shoot down
:03:20. > :03:24.civilian aircraft, but even more damaging if it turns out that the
:03:25. > :03:29.missile, if there was one, came from the Russian side of the border.
:03:30. > :03:33.These unverified photographs apparently show some of the wreckage
:03:34. > :03:39.of the Malaysian plane. The separatists then shooting it down,
:03:40. > :03:42.blaming the Ukrainian military. But at the moment, it is still not known
:03:43. > :03:49.if it was brought down by military action.
:03:50. > :03:55.The BBC's Oleg Boldyrev joins us from Moscow.
:03:56. > :04:01.We have heard in that report, we still do not know what happened. Was
:04:02. > :04:09.it shot down? What can you tell us from Moscow? The official reaction
:04:10. > :04:13.has been muted. President Putin has expressed his condolences. The
:04:14. > :04:21.separatists are denying that they have weapons capable of doing that.
:04:22. > :04:26.One of the crucial questions is who gets to the crash site, all the
:04:27. > :04:28.experts. Initially the separatists say that they will allow
:04:29. > :04:34.investigators to come and investigate. The latest comment we
:04:35. > :04:38.see is that the local police, which are loyal to the separatist cause,
:04:39. > :04:43.will conduct initial investigations. Everyone who is familiar with the
:04:44. > :04:48.procedure is not doubt that the policemen will be capable of doing
:04:49. > :04:53.that, local policemen. The Russian ministry said it is ready to go and
:04:54. > :04:59.help with this, but they have said to the authorities in Kiev, who will
:05:00. > :05:04.go to the area of the conflict. That is the biggest question of all.
:05:05. > :05:10.Another question we are all asking, did the rail -- did the rebels have
:05:11. > :05:15.the hardware capable of bringing down a commercial jet flying at
:05:16. > :05:19.10,000 metres? There is no set in stone confirmation that they did.
:05:20. > :05:24.There have been reports which are hard to verify. The weaponry that
:05:25. > :05:27.they have sometimes surpasses even the Ukrainian capabilities. There
:05:28. > :05:33.have been so many reports of weapons from Russia, including modern
:05:34. > :05:38.shooting systems and weapon systems crossing over to the rebel side in
:05:39. > :05:45.eastern Ukraine. Speculation is that they might have this, but no one has
:05:46. > :05:54.seen it all documented it or put it on paper and presented it to the
:05:55. > :06:04.world. Anna Holligan joins us from Amsterdam, Schiphol Airport. What is
:06:05. > :06:08.this scene there? It is now an unimaginable, painful wait for
:06:09. > :06:12.relatives who are arriving at Schiphol airport. Nine hours ago,
:06:13. > :06:17.passengers travelled through these gates to board a flight
:06:18. > :06:21.#ColourWhite. Airport officials said the relatives and family members of
:06:22. > :06:24.those on board that flight have been taken to a special area inside the
:06:25. > :06:30.airport, separate from the other passengers, and we expect to hear
:06:31. > :06:36.more from them later this evening. They are planning a press conference
:06:37. > :06:39.to tell us more details. Do we know anything about the nationalities of
:06:40. > :06:47.the Passion yours yet? -- passengers. We have seen reports on
:06:48. > :06:52.Twitter that there were 23 Americans on board. It is assumed that what
:06:53. > :06:55.Dutch Passion jazz. But it is still so early, so it is still breaking
:06:56. > :07:01.news and man of those details have been confirmed. We have heard from
:07:02. > :07:04.that Dutch Prime Minister who says he is returning from Brussels
:07:05. > :07:09.immediately to deal with the situation. He is deeply shocked by
:07:10. > :07:16.what has happened. We will be hearing more from him in the coming
:07:17. > :07:20.days. We will come back to you again as well.
:07:21. > :07:30.Malaysian airlines is holding a press conference in two hours time,
:07:31. > :07:35.that is at 4am local time. That is what we understand. Local media is
:07:36. > :07:38.reporting that the Prime Minister might be holding a press conference
:07:39. > :07:45.shortly, but we cannot verify that just yet. So far, the information,
:07:46. > :07:50.the official information we have been getting, has been limited. We
:07:51. > :07:55.have seen senior ministers on twitter, expressing shock, saying
:07:56. > :08:01.that they are working closely with the relevant ministries to handle
:08:02. > :08:06.this issue. We understand that the transport Minister, who is currently
:08:07. > :08:11.in Beijing, is on his way back to Kuala Lumpur or. The transport
:08:12. > :08:16.minister was in Beijing to discuss the disappearance of the plane which
:08:17. > :08:21.disappeared in March earlier this year, which of course, we still do
:08:22. > :08:26.not know what happened to it. And it is fair to say that the reaction in
:08:27. > :08:33.Asia on social media and even among my friends in the region has been
:08:34. > :08:36."not again" with Malaysian airlines, the cause of the memory of the
:08:37. > :08:49.disappearance of that first plane, which is very fresh. I know that you
:08:50. > :08:54.cover the disappearance of MH370. People around the world and the
:08:55. > :08:58.region must be sane, not again. The circumstances are different, MH370
:08:59. > :09:02.disappeared in March and we do not know exactly what happened. There is
:09:03. > :09:07.lots of speculation, which continues. With this one, we have
:09:08. > :09:13.seen the blame game, if you like, speaking the correspondence around
:09:14. > :09:17.the world. The Ukrainian government, the president of Ukraine, has said
:09:18. > :09:21.this is a terrorist act. In the meantime, the rebels say that they
:09:22. > :09:27.do not have any capacity to be able to shoot down such a plane. There
:09:28. > :09:31.has been a lot of speculation, but at least we have got confirmation
:09:32. > :09:36.from the Ukrainian government that the plane has crashed. And we are
:09:37. > :09:44.getting some very disturbing images of the crash site, as well. As Anna
:09:45. > :09:50.Holligan was saying from Amsterdam, there are reports of 23 US
:09:51. > :09:54.passengers on board the plane which went down. The US State Department
:09:55. > :09:58.has said that Washington could not yet confirmed those reports, but it
:09:59. > :10:03.was urgently trying to obtain that information. We have seen the same
:10:04. > :10:07.reports that you have, at this point. We do not have any confirmed
:10:08. > :10:13.information about casualties, the cause, or additional details.
:10:14. > :10:16.Thoughts and prayers go out to those on board, their families and loved
:10:17. > :10:21.ones. We are closely monitoring the situation. The Secretary of State is
:10:22. > :10:29.aware of these reports and we are seeking additional information. The
:10:30. > :10:32.embassy in Kiev is in close contact with the authorities about this
:10:33. > :10:39.incident but at the moment this is all the details that we have.
:10:40. > :10:46.President Obama is about to speak. Let's see if we can join that.
:10:47. > :10:51.Please, have a seat. It is wonderful to be back in Delaware. Before I
:10:52. > :10:57.begin, obviously the world is watching reports of a grounded
:10:58. > :11:03.passenger jet near the Russia-Ukraine border. It looked
:11:04. > :11:08.like it might be a terrible tragedy. We are working to determine whether
:11:09. > :11:13.American citizens were on board. That is our first priority. I have
:11:14. > :11:18.directed a national security team to stay in contact with the Ukrainian
:11:19. > :11:20.government. The United States will offer any assistance that we can to
:11:21. > :11:28.help determine what happened, and why. As a country, our thoughts and
:11:29. > :11:33.prayers are with all of the passengers and families, whoever and
:11:34. > :11:37.wherever they call home. I would like to thank Jeremy Forrest
:11:38. > :11:41.introduction. Give him a big round of applause. -- Jeremy, for his
:11:42. > :12:25.introduction. speculation. Can we talk about
:12:26. > :12:29.facts? The fact I will not there yet. That is the problem. We know
:12:30. > :12:34.the background to this. There has been rising tension, there have been
:12:35. > :12:38.a number of Ukrainian military aircraft which have been shot down.
:12:39. > :12:44.Those have been at low heights. The suspicion is that pro-Russian rebels
:12:45. > :12:50.have been using portable surface-to-air missiles, missiles
:12:51. > :12:54.they can put on their shoulder, if they see a plane or helicopter, and
:12:55. > :13:02.fire at it and shoot it down. This is different. This passenger jet was
:13:03. > :13:06.flying at 30,000 feet, ten to limit is. It would be difficult to see
:13:07. > :13:11.from the ground. You would have to have had a radar system to lock onto
:13:12. > :13:17.that. You would have to have had a medium to long range surface to air
:13:18. > :13:21.missile, of the kind that is either locked onto the ground are tracked
:13:22. > :13:31.vehicle, and indeed, someone in the Ukraine believes it was a Buk
:13:32. > :13:36.system, a Russian system, which has a radar on board. This looks
:13:37. > :13:40.different to what has happened in the past. Clearly, what has been
:13:41. > :13:44.shot down is different to what has been shot down in the past. The
:13:45. > :13:50.targets have been military aircraft and helicopters, this is a civilian
:13:51. > :13:55.airline, and it changes the situation is usually. There could be
:13:56. > :14:00.dozens of countries involved with citizens on that plane who now want
:14:01. > :14:05.answers. Watching pictures of the crash site and the aftermath. People
:14:06. > :14:12.are asking, why are commercial airlines flying over a conflict
:14:13. > :14:16.zone? Turkish airlines are now rewriting their planes. Shouldn't
:14:17. > :14:20.they have done that before? There was a big difference between a
:14:21. > :14:25.civilian aeroplane and the military aeroplane in the air, in that it is
:14:26. > :14:31.not just about the height that they travel, it is about what they are
:14:32. > :14:35.doing. Civilian passenger plane will be what is called squawking,
:14:36. > :14:43.identifying itself, letting air traffic control, that -- letting
:14:44. > :14:47.them know what height it is at, it will have an identification that is
:14:48. > :14:53.known on the ground. If it is a military aircraft it will not have
:14:54. > :14:56.that facility. It will still be identifiable to radar stations, but
:14:57. > :15:02.it is very different. You would have thought, a civilian passenger plane,
:15:03. > :15:07.it should not be a target. That is the assumption. This has clearly
:15:08. > :15:08.changed things, and now airlines are saying that they will change their
:15:09. > :15:23.ways because of this. people on board but we also have the
:15:24. > :15:28.political situation on the ground in Ukraine, what happens next? People
:15:29. > :15:35.are being very careful not to watch -- rush to judgement. It is a
:15:36. > :15:42.mystery at the moment. People are not sure what exactly happens. There
:15:43. > :15:46.is the possibility of a surface-to-air missile, speculation
:15:47. > :15:50.that a fighter jet with a missile or even a terrorist attempt. People
:15:51. > :15:56.will look at what has happened but we will be looking at the data. You
:15:57. > :16:00.will have experts looking at satellite imagery and they will be
:16:01. > :16:06.able to identify whether a surface-to-air missile was fired.
:16:07. > :16:12.There will be limited radar information because neat tool do not
:16:13. > :16:16.have radar is looking that far east. But there will be information to
:16:17. > :16:24.firm up details and give up -- give an accurate assessment. This will be
:16:25. > :16:29.very different. Civilians are involved. This does not just involve
:16:30. > :16:34.Russia and Ukraine. It involves other countries like America and
:16:35. > :16:41.other European countries as well. We will stop our analysis at the
:16:42. > :16:43.moment. We want to hear from the Ukrainian president who has
:16:44. > :16:48.described the downing of the plane as an act of terrorism and calls for
:16:49. > :16:57.an international investigation. I have just concluded a conversation
:16:58. > :17:03.with the Prime Minister of melons -- Prime Minister of the Netherlands. I
:17:04. > :17:06.offered condolences. I would like to have an investigation into this act
:17:07. > :17:13.of terrorism. We are not calling it an accident, but an act of
:17:14. > :17:20.terrorism. Those are the words of the Ukrainian president. Let us
:17:21. > :17:27.speak to an aviation specialists who joins us from our studio in
:17:28. > :17:30.Salford, your immediate thoughts? This is an incident which has filled
:17:31. > :17:40.me with a fair degree of shock and horror. The fact that a civil
:17:41. > :17:44.airliner travelling between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur or was
:17:45. > :17:50.brought down in this fashion, one can only feel a sense of shock. We
:17:51. > :18:00.jet ever have thought something like this could happen? Not in this day
:18:01. > :18:05.and age, quite frankly. 20, 30, 40 years ago, may be. We did have
:18:06. > :18:11.incidents like this long ago. But in this day and age with air traffic
:18:12. > :18:20.control systems, with the ability to monitor who is where and anything
:18:21. > :18:27.from that air traffic control system through to an iPhone for instance,
:18:28. > :18:35.it beggars belief that an aircraft such as this has been brought down
:18:36. > :18:39.in such a way. With commercial airlines have taken into account
:18:40. > :18:50.when flying over that area that it is a conflict zone? It would not
:18:51. > :19:03.have been Mr Savile on their radar. -- Nessus Adderley. They follow a
:19:04. > :19:09.great circle route, the shortest distance between one airport and the
:19:10. > :19:15.other. They would be operating along a well worn and well used YouTube --
:19:16. > :19:18.route which they had used for years. They would probably not give
:19:19. > :19:25.consideration as to what is happening on the ground because we
:19:26. > :19:32.did not know until two hours ago that the people down on the grounds
:19:33. > :19:40.might have the sort of technology to target the civil airliner in such a
:19:41. > :19:46.tragic fashion. If France, Turkish airlines, either flocked, they all
:19:47. > :19:55.say they are avoiding eastern Ukraine which is prudent bats?
:19:56. > :20:04.Present in deeds but there must be some questions to ask. -- Air
:20:05. > :20:09.France. The central control for air traffic control for instance, asking
:20:10. > :20:12.why there was zero detailed information to pass on to airlines
:20:13. > :20:18.to point them in a different direction. Perhaps taking the route
:20:19. > :20:23.further north, away from the conflict zone itself. Some of those
:20:24. > :20:31.questions will be asked over the coming days. Thank you very much for
:20:32. > :20:40.joining us. Let us recap what we are doing. It
:20:41. > :20:48.was a Malaysia flight, MH17, flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur or,
:20:49. > :20:58.it took off just after noon. 295 people on board. 15 crew. Ukrainian
:20:59. > :21:05.government, the President is saying that this is an act of terrorism.
:21:06. > :21:10.Nobody has been able to confirm how this plane has come down. There is
:21:11. > :21:16.speculation and finger-pointing that it was shot down. Let us speak now
:21:17. > :21:20.to another expert. I'm joined now by Charles Hayman,
:21:21. > :21:22.former editor of Jane?s World Armies and now Senior Defence
:21:23. > :21:32.Analyst with the armed forces. Your immediate thoughts? With the
:21:33. > :21:40.rebels have the necessary armoury to shoot down a commercial airliner? We
:21:41. > :21:49.have to look at the balance of probabilities first of all. It looks
:21:50. > :21:56.from the evidence so far, that are ground to air missile launcher was
:21:57. > :22:02.used. We know that these missile launchers were on the infantry of
:22:03. > :22:07.the Ukrainian government forces. It is quite possible that one or more
:22:08. > :22:11.of these missile launchers were about -- were abandoned by Ukrainian
:22:12. > :22:18.forces when they left rebel held areas. Most people are beginning to
:22:19. > :22:23.think this was fired from a rebel held area. Also, because it was a
:22:24. > :22:29.battlefield radar, as Jonathan Beale pointed out, the sophisticated air
:22:30. > :22:35.traffic radar is that the Kiev government have got and the Russian
:22:36. > :22:40.government have got, they would pick up civilian aircraft squawking all
:22:41. > :22:45.the time. But something like this missile launcher, with its own
:22:46. > :22:53.battlefield radar, which only pick up an aircraft and not the fact it
:22:54. > :22:58.was a civilian aircraft. Putting the pieces into the jigsaw puzzle, it is
:22:59. > :23:04.beginning to look as if this was fired from a separatist area and it
:23:05. > :23:09.was fired from an old air defence system which did not identify the
:23:10. > :23:15.aircraft as a civilian airliner. When the separatists denied
:23:16. > :23:22.involvement, they say they have no air defence systems of this kind,
:23:23. > :23:27.what do you say? That is right, they are denying there is but there is
:23:28. > :23:32.evidence to say there was some tweeting coming out of the
:23:33. > :23:37.separatist area saying we had just shot down another Ukrainian
:23:38. > :23:42.government aircraft. The tweet source is the same tweet sources
:23:43. > :23:48.which was boasting about shooting down a Ukrainian government aircraft
:23:49. > :23:54.last week. So the separatists are under suspicion. It is unlikely BPF
:23:55. > :24:00.government would want to do that. After the experiences with the
:24:01. > :24:04.Korean airliner 25 years ago, the Russian government would be loath to
:24:05. > :24:10.involve themselves in a crime of this magnitude. The Russians are
:24:11. > :24:19.canny political operators. They do not tend to make mistakes like this.
:24:20. > :24:26.Thank you very much indeed. Let us get the views of Simon Calder now. I
:24:27. > :24:33.presume your initial reaction was one of shock and horror? Yes, I have
:24:34. > :24:41.been looking at the warnings which were in place. Eight weeks ago the
:24:42. > :24:46.American Federal Administration put out a warning to American pilots and
:24:47. > :24:53.airlines saying exercise extreme caution in Ukraine. They were
:24:54. > :24:59.warning about the area of Crimea and other parts of Crimea and the
:25:00. > :25:05.Ukraine. They said these places were dangerous. Nobody of course was
:25:06. > :25:10.expecting anything like this. For years there have been routine long
:25:11. > :25:15.haul flights over areas of conflict. Airlines are predisposed to fly the
:25:16. > :25:22.most direct route, if that takes them over places like Iraq,
:25:23. > :25:26.Afghanistan and Libya and so on, or view is that the weaponry on the
:25:27. > :25:32.ground is not sophisticated enough to endanger passenger aviation. Can
:25:33. > :25:39.you put this in the historical conflict -- context for as? There is
:25:40. > :25:44.a history of accidental shootings of passenger jets. September the 1st
:25:45. > :25:54.1983, the Korean flight on a flight to New York Street Ofqual is over
:25:55. > :26:01.the eastern edge of the soviet union and was shot down by a Soviet
:26:02. > :26:06.fighter. -- Street of quarters. There was an Israeli aircraft on
:26:07. > :26:13.route to divide which was shot down by an American warship in the Gulf.
:26:14. > :26:23.That is held by some to be the cause of the Lockerbie attack which
:26:24. > :26:26.happened, some see as revenge. While you have weaponry capable of
:26:27. > :26:33.shooting dead aircraft, this will always be a threat. -- shooting down
:26:34. > :26:41.aircraft. Shoulder launched missiles have always been an issue for
:26:42. > :26:49.aviation experts, that has always been an issue... We have to leave it
:26:50. > :26:57.there. You have been watching a special edition. Stay with us for
:26:58. > :27:04.more. Hello there. If you have enjoyed the
:27:05. > :27:11.sunshine today, you may find tomorrow to warm. This low pressure
:27:12. > :27:12.is moving northwards through the night bringing a band of heavy,