Malaysia Airlines passenger plane MH17 crashes in Ukraine

A Malaysian airliner with 295 people on board has crashed in Ukraine on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, surrounded by allegations it was shot down.

At a news conference the Malaysia Airlines' European chief said that from the passengers that have been identified, there were 154 Dutch nationals, 27 Australians, 23 Malaysians, 11 Indonesians, six Britons, four Germans, four Belgians, three from the Philippines and one Canadian.

All 15 of the crew were Malaysian.

Meanwhile, the United States has concluded the Malaysian airline which was carrying 295 people was shot down, a senior U.S. official told CNN. 

The CNN said one radar system saw a surface to air missile system turn on and track an aircraft right before the plane went down.

A second system saw a heat signature at the time the airliner was hit. 

There were 280 passengers and 15 crew members on board.

Earlier on:

A Malaysian airliner with 295 people on board has crashed in Ukraine on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, surrounded by allegations it was shot down.

Bodies are scattered around what is believed to be the wreckage of the Boeing 777 near a village in Serbia, which is under the control of separatist rebels.

Flight MH17 had been due to enter Russian airspace when contact was lost.

Ukraine's president Petro Poroshenko called the loss of the plane an “act of terrorism” as the rebels denied shooting it down.

The separatists are believed to have shot down two Ukrainian military planes over the region in recent days.

Both the Ukrainian government and rebels have denied shooting it down in the region close to the Russian border.

Ukrainian officials say the death toll is more than 300.

A defense expert has told the BBC that shooting down a plane at 32,000ft would have required a long-range surface-to-air missile - possibly guided by radar.

Malaysian President Najib Razak said he is shocked by reports that an MH plane crashed.

Razak said they are launching an immediate investigation.

According to Malaysia Airlines, the plane departed Amsterdam Airport and lost contact four hours later - 50km from the Russia-Ukraine border.

An adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, Anton Herashchenko, alleged that the plane was hit by a missile fired by a launcher - a Russian-made, medium-range surface-to-air missile system.

Ukraine has also accused Russia's military of supplying advanced missiles to the rebels.