27 Aussies killed in Malaysian jet crash
UPDATED, 1.o3am: Australia is demanding a full international investigation into the attack on a Malaysia Airlines flight in Ukraine that has killed almost 300 people, including 27 Australians.
A short time ago, South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill said it was believed there were not South Australians on the flight, but he stressed this was only early information.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott says Australia is pushing in the United Nations Security Council for a binding resolution to establish a full and impartial investigation into the suspected surface-to-air missile attack on MH17.
Investigators should have full access to the site, debris, black box and anyone who may be able to shed light on the terrible event, he said.
Coming from an emergency meeting of the government’s powerful national security committee of cabinet, Mr Abbott told parliament it appeared Russian-backed rebels were responsible for the attack.
“As things stand this looks less like an accident than a crime,” he said.
If that was the case, the perpetrators must be brought to justice.
“We owe it to the dead and their families, we owe it to the peace and stability of the wider world to establish the facts and we will do all we humanly can to bring that about.”
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Foreign Minister Julie Bishop will summon Russia’s ambassador to Australia to get assurances that Vladimir Putin’s government will fully cooperate with an investigation.
A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade team is preparing to leave for the Ukrainian capital, Kiev.
Bodies of the Australian victims will be brought home as soon as possible, Abbott says.
Bishop has cautioned the final number of Australian dead could rise, with the nationality of as many 47 of the dead not yet determined.
But she says it’s premature to discuss whether Australia will consider banning Mr Putin from attending the upcoming G20 summit in Brisbane.
The aircraft was travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it came down in rebel-held eastern Ukraine.
Australia had the third highest number of people on the flight, after the Netherlands and Malaysia.
Australian families have been confronted with harrowing scenes from the crash site. Some media outlets have screened footage of the smouldering wreckage and bodies and luggage strewn across a field.
The flight was ultimately bound for Australia, which explains why so many Australians were onboard.
It was also carrying some of the world’s top AIDS experts, bound for an international conference in Melbourne.
They include the former International AIDS Society president Joep Lange.
US Vice President Joe Biden says the incident wasn’t an accident and the plane was “blown out of the sky”.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon echoed calls for a full investigation.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said those guilty of bringing down the airliner must be brought to justice.
Social media posts by pro-Russian insurgents – most of them hastily removed – suggest rebels thought they had shot down a Ukrainian army plane before realising in horror that it was in fact a passenger plane.
Abbott says the event shows the need for an end to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
“The bullying of small countries by big ones, the trampling of justice and decency in the pursuit of national aggrandisement and reckless indifference to human life should have no place in our world,” he said.
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An Adelaide couple who were booked on the doomed flight are alive today because they decided to leave Amsterdam a day early.
“It’s a bit surreal to think that one day later and I wouldn’t be here talking with you right now,” Simone La Posta told ABC radio.
Qantas said it didn’t have any code share passengers aboard flight MH17 and that the carrier didn’t have flight routes tracking near or over the area where MH17 went down.
“There is no change to Qantas operations as a result of the Malaysia Airlines incident,” Qantas said.
It’s the second major aviation event to impact Malaysia Airlines this year.
Four months ago flight MH370 travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared over the Indian Ocean with 227 passengers, including six Australians, and 12 crew.
It still hasn’t been found.
People concerned for the welfare of Australian family or friends on MH17 can contact DFAT’s emergency centre on 1300 555 135.
NATIONALITIES OF PASSENGERS ON MH17:
– 154 Dutch
– 27 Australians
– 23 Malaysian
– 11 Indonesian
– 6 British
– 4 German
– 4 Belgian
– 3 Filipinos
– 1 Canadian
– Around 50 unidentified
– 15 crew members believed to be Malaysians
Total: 298
Source: Malaysia Airlines vice president Huib Gorter in Amsterdam
