AFP

New York

Members of the UN Security Council yesterday demanded a full, independent investigation into the apparent shooting down of a Malaysian jet over Ukraine that killed all 298 people on board.

Diplomats stood for a minute of silence in memory of the victims in Thursday’s disaster over a rebel-held eastern part of the country after agreeing on a unanimous call for a complete probe.

A joint statement called for “a full, thorough and independent international investigation... in accordance with international civil aviation guidelines and for appropriate accountability”.

It stressed the need for “immediate access” by investigators to the crash site and expressed deep condolences over the catastrophic loss of life on Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

But an emergency session of the UN Security Council exposed the deep fault lines over the conflict in Ukraine, arguably the worst crisis in Western-Russian relations since the Cold War.

Britain and the US said the jet was likely downed by a surface to air missile, and heaped blame on Russia for supporting and arming separatist groups.

US ambassador Samantha Power said flight MH17 was likely downed by an SA-11 surface-to-air missile launched from a separatist-held location in eastern Ukraine.

British ambassador Mark Lyall Grant demanded that Russia cut off support to separatist rebels, saying violence unleashed by insurgents had reached “monstrous proportions”.

Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin ignored Western complaints and accused Ukrainian authorities of negligence in allowing flights over an area where anti-aircraft systems were operating.

US President Barack Obama echoed international calls for a rapid and credible investigation into the crash.

At least one American was among the almost 300 killed, Obama said.

Calling the crash “an outrage of unspeakable proportions”, Obama stopped short of directly blaming Russia for the incident but warned that he was prepared to tighten economic sanctions.

Noting the global impact of the crash, with victims from 11 countries across four continents, he said the stakes were high for Europe, a clear call for it to follow the more robust sanctions on Russia already imposed by Washington.

 There were no survivors from the flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, a Boeing 777.  The UN said 80 of the 298 aboard were children. The deadliest attack on a commercial airliner, it scattered bodies over miles of rebel-held territory near the border with Russia.

Staff from Europe’s OSCE security body visited the site but complained that they did not have the full access they wanted.

The plane crashed about 40km from the border with Russia near the regional capital of Donetsk, an area that is a stronghold of rebels who have been fighting Ukrainian government forces and have brought down military aircraft.

Leaders of the rebels’ self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic denied any involvement and said a Ukrainian air force jet had brought down the intercontinental flight.

More than half of the dead passengers, 189 people, were Dutch. Twenty-nine were Malaysian, 27 Australian, 12 Indonesian, nine British, four German, four Belgian, three Filipino, one America, one Canadian, one New Zealand. The 15 crew were Malaysian.

A number of those on board were travelling to an international Aids conference in Melbourne, including Joep Lange, an influential Dutch expert. 

The loss of MH17 is the second devastating blow for Malaysia Airlines this year, following the mysterious disappearance of Flight MH370 in March, which vanished with 239 passengers and crew on board on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Passenger posted joke about plane disappearing

A young Dutchman apparently posted a picture of the downed Malaysian airliner on Facebook minutes before he boarded it, writing: “If it should disappear, this is what it looks like.” Cor Pan, who appeared to be going on a beach holiday to Malaysia, posted the photo as a joking reference to another Malaysia Airlines flight that mysteriously disappeared over the Indian Ocean in March.  A few hours later his flight too would disappear from radar screens, taking him and the other 297 people on board the Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur flight to their deaths in eastern Ukraine.