MH17:News/18 July 2014
Friday, 18 July 2014
News Summary
Media Statements
Friday, July 18, 12:30 AM GMT +0800 Media Statement 1: MH17 Incident
Media Statement 1: MH17 Incident
Malaysia Airlines confirms it received notification from Ukrainian ATC that it had lost contact with flight MH17 at 1415 (GMT) at 30km from Tamak waypoint, approximately 50km from the Russia-Ukraine border.
Flight MH17 operated on a Boeing 777 departed Amsterdam at 12.15pm (Amsterdam local time) and was estimated to arrive at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 6.10 am (Malaysia local time) the next day.
The flight was carrying 280 passengers and 15 crew onboard.
More details to follow.
-end-
Source: Malaysia Airlines MAS-MH17-1
Friday, July 18, 04:15 AM GMT +0800 Statement by Prime Minister Najib Razak: Malaysian Airlines flight 17[1]
Yesterday evening, I was informed of the terrible and deeply shocking news that a Malaysia Airlines jet went down in eastern Ukraine.
Malaysia Airlines has confirmed that the jet was Malaysia Airlines flight 17, which was on a scheduled flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
The flight departed Amsterdam at 12.15pm, local time. It was scheduled to arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 6.10 am, local, Malaysian time.
The aircraft was a Boeing 777-200.
The aircraft’s flight route was declared safe by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
And International Air Transportation Association has stated that the airspace the aircraft was traversing was not subject to restrictions.
Malaysia Airlines has confirmed that the aircraft did not make a distress call.
The flight was carrying a total number of 295[2] people – comprising 280 passengers and 15 crew members.
Malaysia Airlines is in the process of notifying the next-of-kin of the passengers and crew. All possible care will be provided to the next-of-kin.
The Government of Malaysia is dispatching a special flight to Kiev, carrying a Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team, as well as a medical team.
According to information provided by Kiev Air Traffic Control, the location of the plane’s emergency locator beacon is 48 degrees 7 minutes and 23 seconds North; and 38 degrees 31 minutes and 33 seconds East.
The Ukrainian authorities believe that the plane was shot down.
At this early stage, however, Malaysia is unable to verify the cause of this tragedy.
But we must – and we will – find out precisely what happened to this flight.
No stone can be left unturned.
If it transpires that the plane was indeed shot down, we insist that the perpetrators must swiftly be brought to justice.
Emergency operations centres have been established. In the last few hours, Malaysian officials have been in constant contact with their counterparts in Ukraine and elsewhere.
And I will be speaking to a number of world leaders over the coming hours.
I have had several conversations with the Prime Minister of the Netherlands.
I have also spoken to the President of Ukraine. He has pledged that there will be a full, thorough and independent investigation, and Malaysian officials will be invited to take part.
The Ukrainian president also confirmed that his government will negotiate with rebels in the east of the country, in order to establish a humanitarian corridor to the crash site.
Just now, I received a call from President Obama.
He and I both agreed that the investigation must not be hindered in anyway.
An international team must have full access to the crash site.
And no one should interfere with the area, or move any debris, including the black box.
This is a tragic day, in what has already been a tragic year, for Malaysia.
As we work to understand what happened, our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of those onboard the flight.
I cannot imagine what they must be going through at this painful time.
The flight’s passengers and crew came from many different countries.
But today, regardless of nationality, we are all united in grief.
-end-
Source: Prime Minister's Office of Malaysia PMO-MH17-18July2014
Notes
- ↑ The Prime Minister's statement on MH17 was published on the Malaysia Airlines website without the normal header and logo of the Prime Minister's Office.
- ↑ Prime Minister Najib's speech was prepared for him based on data provided by Malaysia Airlines. The stated number of persons on-board was, however, not correct. The Preliminary Report prepared by the Dutch Safety Board confirms that there were 15 Crew (4 Flight Crew plus 11 Cabin Crew) and 283 passengers, a total of 298 Persons on Board.
Friday, July 18, 07:30 AM GMT +0800 Media Statement 2 : MH17 Incident
Media Statement 2 : MH17 Incident
With immediate effect, all European flights operated by Malaysia Airlines will be taking alternative routes avoiding the usual route.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was on a scheduled flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur went down in eastern Ukraine. Malaysia Airlines confirms that the aircraft did not make a distress call.
The usual flight route was earlier declared safe by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. International Air Transportation Association has stated that the airspace the aircraft was traversing was not subject to restrictions.
As opposed to the earlier statement, the flight was carrying a total number of 298 people – comprising 283 passengers including three infants of various nationalities and 15 crew of Malaysian nationality. Some of the nationalities of the passengers are yet to be determined.
List of number of passengers and crew according to nationality are as follows:-
Nationality |
Total |
Netherlands |
154 |
Malaysia |
43 (including 15 crew & 2 infants) |
Australia |
27 |
Indonesia |
12 (including 1 infant) |
United Kingdom |
9 |
Germany |
4 |
Belgium |
4 |
Philippines |
3 |
Canada |
1 |
Unverified |
41 |
Total |
298 |
Malaysia Airlines is in the process of notifying the next-of-kin of the passengers and crew.
Our focus now is to work with the emergency responders and authorities and mobilize its full support to provide all possible care to the next-of-kin. Malaysia Airlines is deploying its “Go Team” to Amsterdam with a group of caregivers and volunteers to assist the family members of the passengers.
Our thoughts and prayers are with all affected passengers and crew and their family members.
The airline will provide regular updates on the situation.
Families of passengers and crew may contact +603 7884 1234 (Malaysia) or +31703487770(Netherlands).
For media queries, kindly contact +603 8777 5698/ +603 8787 1276.
Please also log on to www.malaysiaairlines.com for updates.
-end-
Source: Malaysia Airlines MAS-MH17-2
Friday, July 18, 01:30 PM GMT +0800 Media Statement 3 : MH17 Incident
Media Statement 3 : MH17 Incident
The B777-200 aircraft bearing registration no. 9M-MRD that operated MH17 on 17 July, 2014 had a clean maintenance record. The aircraft’s last maintenance check was on 11 July 2014. The next check was due on 27 Aug 2014. The maintenance was conducted at Malaysia Airlines’ hangar at KLIA. The aircraft had a clean bill of health.
The aircraft was manufactured in July 1997, and so had 17 years in service.
The aircraft had recorded 75322 hours with a total of 11434 cycles.
All communication system on the aircraft were functioning normally.
The B777-200 uses the Rolls-Royce Trent-800 engine and has a 282 seat capacity.
-end-
Source: Malaysia Airlines MAS-MH17-3
Friday, July 18, 08:20 PM GMT +0800 Media Statement 4 : MH17 Incident
Media Statement 4: MH17 Incident
1. Flight plan
MH17’s flight plan was approved by Eurocontrol, who are solely responsible for determining civil aircraft flight paths over European airspace. Eurocontrol is the air navigation service provider for Europe and is governed under ICAO rules.
The route over Ukrainian airspace where the incident occurred is commonly used for Europe to Asia flights. A flight from a different carrier was on the same route at the time of the MH17 incident, as were a number of other flights from other carriers in the days and weeks before. Eurocontrol maintains records of all flights across European airspace, including those across Ukraine.
In April, the International Civil Aviation Organization identified an area over the Crimean peninsula as risky. At no point did MH17 fly into, or request to fly into, this area. At all times, MH17 was in airspace approved by the ICAO.
2. Altitude
MH17 filed a flight plan requesting to fly at 35,000ft throughout Ukrainian airspace. This is close to the ‘optimum’ altitude.
However, an aircraft’s altitude in flight is determined by air traffic control on the ground. Upon entering Ukrainian airspace, MH17 was instructed by Ukrainian air traffic control to fly at 33,000ft.
3. Nationalities
Following this afternoon’s press conference, Malaysia Airlines can confirm that a further 16 passengers’ nationalities have been verified. The latest breakdown of nationalities of those on board the flight is as follows:
· 189 Netherlands
· 44 Malaysia
· 27 Australia
· 12 Indonensia
· 9 UK
· 4 Belgium
· 4 Germany
· 3 Philippines
· 1 Canada
· 1 New Zealand
Four passengers’ nationalities remain to be verified.
4. New flight route
Following this incident, Malaysia Airlines now avoids Ukrainian airspace entirely, flying further south over Turkey.
-end-
Source: Malaysia Airlines MAS-MH17-4