Updated July 18, 2014, 8:42 p.m.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was carrying 298 people through Ukrainian airspace Thursday when it was shot down near the border with Russia, according to U.S. intelligence officials. The plane's flight path was from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Read the latest updates.
Updated July 18, 2014, 8:42 p.m.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was carrying 298 people through Ukrainian airspace Thursday when it was shot down near the border with Russia, according to U.S. intelligence officials. The plane's flight path was from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Read the latest updates.
The flight route
The path Flight 17 took on Thursday was similar to its previous routes.
The path Flight 17 took on Thursday was similar to its previous routes.
Where it happened
Flight 17 crashed in a separatist-controlled area where fighting has recently been heavy.
Passenger and crew nationalities
Among the 298 people aboard Flight 17 were several delegates to an international AIDS conference in Melbourne and three infants. The one U.S. citizen known to be aboard the flight, Dutch dual-national Quinn Lucas Schansman, 19, was travelling to Kuala Lumpur to meet his family for a vacation.
DUTCH
192
MALAYSIAN
44
15 flight crew membersAUSTRALIAN
28
INDONESIAN
12
BRITISH
10
GERMAN
BELGIAN
FILIPINO
VIETNAMESE
AMERICAN
1 dual citizen with the NetherlandsCANADIAN
HONG KONG
NEW ZEALAND
Note: Some passengers have dual citizenship. These passengers appear in all countries of their citizenship — therefore the total exceeds 298 passengers.
Aircraft
Flight 17, a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, lost contact with air traffic controllers while flying at an altitude of 33,000 ft.
Wingspan: 200 feet
Length: 209 feet
The Buk surface-to-air missile
The plane likely was shot down by a Russian-made Buk SA-11 missile fired from a separatist-held are of eastern Ukraine, according to a preliminary assessment by U.S. intelligence.
The original Buk SA-11 Gadfly (1979) or the newer Buk SA-17 Grizzly (2007) surface-to-air missile system can track up to six targets simultaneously at various altitudes and directions and can fire as many as three missiles at a single target. Success probability with a single radar-guided missile is 90 to 95 percent.
Missiles
| Fuel | solid fuel |
| Maximum ceiling | 82,000 ft |
| Weight | 1,550 lbs |
| Speed | Mach 2.5 |
Launch vehicle
| Crew | 4 |
| Carries | 4 missiles |
| Readiness time | 5 min. |
| Reloads | 12 min. |
Turmoil on the ground
Since late June, Ukrainian forces appear to have made three main thrusts into eastern Ukraine’s pro-Russian strongholds, resulting in heavy fighting.
- One column has seized the city of Slovyansk and apparently taken a strategic intersection that cuts the main road running between the industrial population centers of Luhansk and Donetsk.
- Another column from the vicinity of Mariupol seems to have fought its way along the border to secure the crossings with Russia, then launched an assault on the industrial hub of Luhansk.
- A third column appears to have attacked Luhansk from the north.
