MH17 Meledak Ditembak Rudal di Perbatasan Ukraina-Rusia
MH17 Passenger Plane `Shot Down with Ground-to-air missile´ over Ukraine Near to Russian Border
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
PESAWAT penumpang Malaysia Airlines ditembak jatuh di perbatasan Rusia-Ukraina dalam 'aksi terorisme', yang menewaskan 295 penumpang pesawat, dilaporkan 5-10 warga Inggris dan 23 warga Amerika Serikat.
Pesawat Boeing 777 dihantam rudal canggih darat ke udara di atas wilayah udara dekat Donetsk dipegang oleh pemberontak pro-Rusia, yang dituding oleh pemerintah Ukraina didukung oleh Kremlin Rusia, seperti dilansir MailOnline.
Pihak berwenang Ukraina menuding serangan tersebut dilakukan oleh pemberontak dengan menolak tanggung jawab atas peluncuran rudal, Presiden Petro Poroshenko menyerukan perlawanan terhadap terorisme setelah ia menyerukan penyelidikan internasional atas kecelakaan tersebut.
Rekaman di televisi dari tempat kejadian menunjukkan asap mengepul ke langit dekat Donetsk, ternyata berasal dari puing pesawat dengan kode penerbangan MH17 yang telah ditembak jatuh.
Saksi mata mengatakan puing-puing pesawat tersebar hingga lebih dari 15km, yang menunjukkan bahwa pesawat meledak di udara.
Sumber-sumber MailOnline di pemerintahan Inggris mengatakan bahwa sekitar lima hingga sepuluh warga Inggris dikhawatirkan turut tewas. Kantor berita Interfax melaporkan bahwa 23 warga AS berada di pesawat, dan diperkirakan 71 warga Belanda, 27 warga Australia dan empat warga negara Prancis berada di pesawat.
Menlu Inggris yang Philip Hammond mengatakan Kamis malam ia percaya ada warga Inggris di antara korban tewas tetapi tidak memiliki informasi rinci mengenai jumlah pasti, atau apa yang menyebabkan pesawat tersebut jatuh.
Perdana Menteri David Cameron mengatakan: "Saya terkejut dan sedih mendengar bencana tersebut. Pejabat dari seluruh Whitehall harus segera rapat untuk mencari informasi selengkapnya."
Inggris juga telah meminta pertemuan darurat Dewan Keamanan PBB di New York, kata Kementerian Luar Negeri.
Sementara itu, Presiden Rusia Vladimir Putin dalam pembicaraan telepon kepada Presiden AS Barack Obama bahwa pesawat Malaysia jatuh di wilayah Ukraina, kata Kremlin.
Kedua pemimpin melakukan pembicaraan telepon tanpa direncanakan di tengah situasi yang memanas di Ukraina dan informasi semata mengandalkan dari pengendali lalu lintas udara tentang kecelakaan tersebut.
Sekitar 23 warga Amerika dikhawatirkan tewas dalam kecelakaan itu, yang disebut Presiden Barack Obama sebagai 'tragedi'.
Presiden berbicara singkat tentang kecelakaan saat ia muncul di Wilmington, Delaware pada Kamis sore dan mengatakan tim keamanan nasionalnya bekerja untuk menentukan apakah ada warga AS di pesawat yang membawa 295 orang ke Kuala Lumpur.
A MALAYSIAN Airlines passenger plane has been shot down on the Russian-Ukraine border in an 'act of terrorism', killing all 295 people on board including a reported five to ten Britons and 23 Americans.
The Boeing 777 aircraft was hit by a sophisticated surface-to-air missile over territory near Donetsk held by pro-Russian rebels who the Ukrainian government says are backed by the Kremlin.
The Ukrainian authorities laid the blame for the attack on the rebels by denying any responsibility for the missile launch, with President Petro Poroshenko called the downing an act of terrorism as he called for an international investigation into the crash.
TV pictures from the scene showed a pall of smoke billowing into the sky near Donetsk, apparently from the stricken flight MH17.
Witnesses say body parts are scattered over a distance of 15km, suggesting the plane broke up in mid-air.
Whitehall sources told MailOnline that between five and ten Britons were feared dead. Interfax news agency reported that 23 U.S. citizens were on board, and it is thought that 71 Dutch, 27 Australians and four French citizens were on the plane.
The new Foreign secretary Philip Hammond said tonight he believes there were British nationals among those on board the plane but does not have detailed information as to the exact number.
Prime Minister David Cameron said: 'I'm shocked and saddened by the Malaysian air disaster.
Officials from across Whitehall are meeting to establish the facts.'
Britain has also requested an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council in New York, the Foreign Office said.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin in a telephone conversation told U.S. President Barack Obama that a Malaysian airplane crashed on Ukrainian territory, the Kremlin said.
The two leaders held a pre-planned call on the situation in Ukraine during which information became available from air traffic controllers about the crash.
Twenty-three Americans are feared dead in the crash, which President Barack Obama called a 'terrible tragedy'.
The president spoke briefly about the crash as he appeared in Wilmington, Delaware on Thursday afternoon and said his national security team are working to determine if there were any U.S. citizens on board the plane that was carrying 295 people to Kuala Lumpur.
