World leaders called for a rapid investigation into the shooting down of a Malaysian airliner over eastern Ukraine and justice for nearly 300 deaths that could mark a pivotal moment in deter-iorating relations between Russia and the West.
As Ukraine sought to rally international support against Russia, two US officials said Washington strongly suspected the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 with 298 on board was downed by a missile fired by Ukrainian rebels backed by Moscow.
There were no survivors from Thursday’s crash, the deadliest such attack on a commercial airliner, which scattered bodies across miles of rebel-held territory near the border with Russia.
Flight MH17 was heading for Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam.
Makeshift white flags marked where bodies lay in corn fields and among the debris. Others, stripped bare by the force of the crash, had been covered by polythene sheeting weighed down by stones, one marked with a flower in remembrance.
One pensioner told how a corpse had smashed through the roof of her house.
“There was a howling noise and everything started to rattle. Then objects started falling out of the sky,” said Irina Tipunova, 65. “And then I heard a roar and she landed in the kitchen.”
Though no Americans were confirmed on board – more than half those who died were Dutch – US investigators were preparing to head to Ukraine to assist in the investigation, an official said. Another expressed concern it could be hampered by delays.
The scale of the disaster could prove a turning point for inter-national pressure to resolve the crisis in Ukraine, which has killed hundreds since pro-Western protests toppled the Moscow-backed president in Kiev in February and Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula a month later.
While the West has imposed sanctions on Russia over Ukraine, the United States has been more aggressive than the European Union. Analysts say the response of Germany and other EU powers to the incident – possibly imposing more sanctions – could be crucial in deciding the next phase of the stand-off with Moscow.
Some commentators even recalled Germany’s sinking of the Atlantic liner Lusitania in 1915, which helped push the United States into WW I, but outrage in the West at Thursday’s carnage is not seen as leading to military intervention.
The UN Security Council called for a “full, thorough and independent international investig-ation” into the downing of the plane and “appropriate account-ability” for those responsible.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in an initial response, said it was too early to decide on further sanctions before it was known exactly what had happened to the plane. Britain said the facts must be established by a UN-led investigation before additional sanctions were seriously considered.
Kiev and Moscow immediately blamed each other for the disaster, triggering a new phase in their propaganda war.
I heard a roar and she landed in the kitchen
The plane crashed about 40 kilometres 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 a number of 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.
Russia’s Defence Ministry later pointed the finger at Ukrainian ground forces, saying it had picked up radar activity from a Ukrainian missile system south of Donetsk when the airliner was brought down, Russian media reported.
The Ukrainian security council said no missiles had been fired from its armouries. Officials also accused separatists of moving unused missiles into Russia after the incident.
The Ukrainian government released recordings it said were of Russian intelligence officers discussing the shooting down of a civilian airliner by rebels who may have mistaken it for a Ukrainian military plane.
The United States called for a ceasefire to allow access to the crash site, as did Merkel.
The plane’s two black boxes were recovered.