MALAYSIA AIRLINES DIVERT FLIGHT OVER SYRIA TO AVOID UKRAINE
Malaysia
Airlines re-routed a Kuala Lumpur-to-London flight over Syrian airspace
on Sunday after its usual route over Ukraine was closed, flight
tracking data showed on Monday. Flightradar24 posted a flight map on its Twitter account on Monday showing the change in the flight's route.
Flight tracking data showed this flight had previously crossed over eastern Ukraine.
Malaysia Airlines' Flight MH17 was shot down last Thursday by a ground-to-air missile in eastern Ukraine.
Hundreds of flights routinely crossed over Ukraine before Thursday's
incident, and it is not unusual for international airlines to overfly
war zones such as Syria or Afghanistan.
Hundreds of flights routinely crossed over Ukraine before Thursday's
incident, and it is not unusual for international airlines to overfly
war zones such as Syria or Afghanistan.
The US Federal Aviation Administration, whose regulations are
among the world's strictest, "strongly discourages" US operators from
flying to, from or over Syria, according to a May 2013 notice on its
website.
A statement from Malaysia Airlines acknowledged that it was flying over Syrian airspace.
Source: Agency
US DEEPLY CONCERNED OVER MH 17 SITE CRASH ACCESS DENIAL
WASHINGTON, USA - Top US diplomat John Kerry told his
Russian counterpart Saturday that Washington was “deeply concerned” that
international investigators were being denied access to a passenger
jet’s crash site in Ukraine.
President Barack Obama and other world leaders have expressed outrage
and demanded Russia’s full cooperation with what is becoming a
monumentally challenging probe into the shooting down of Kuala
Lumpur-bound Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 from Amsterdam with 298
people from a dozen countries on board.
In a telephone call, Kerry told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov that “the United States remains deeply concerned that for the
second day in a row, OSCE monitors and international investigators were
denied proper access to the crash site,” the State Department said.
- “The United States is also very concerned about reports that the remains of some victims and debris from the site are being tampered with or inappropriately removed from the site.”
- Kerry’s spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the United States condemns “unacceptable” insecurity at the crash site, calling it an “affront to all those who lost loved ones and to the dignity the victims deserve.”
- She said monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe were only allowed 75 minutes at the site on Friday, and less than three hours on Saturday.
- OSCE spokesman Michael Bociurkiw said earlier that the Vienna-based group’s monitoring team on the ground had been “unable today, for the second day, to gain any answers” about the fate of the plane’s critical black box flight data recorders.
In Moscow’s account of the Kerry-Lavrov conversation, it said it had
demanded that “material evidence, including black boxes” must be
immediately handed over to inspectors.Gunmen backed up by muscular diplomatic support from the Kremlin have shown few signs of being ready to cooperate with an investigation that could blame them for blowing apart the Boeing 777 jet.
- Kiev said armed fighters were hours away from loading vital clues aboard trucks that would be rushed across the Russian border before a full team of experts inspected the expansive site where remains of flight MH17 hit the ground.
- In his call with Lavrov, Kerry urged Russia to take “immediate and clear actions” to reduce tensions in neighbouring Ukraine that have pushed the country into an escalating civil war and East-West standoff.
- Kerry particularly stressed the international call for investigators to receive full, immediate and unfettered access to the Malaysia Airlines flight 17 crash site.
- Psaki, Kerry’s spokeswoman, said Washington urges “Russia to honour its commitments and to publicly call on the separatists to do the same” in terms of allowing full access to the site.
Earlier, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke by phone with Dutch
Defense Minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, whose country lost 192
citizens aboard flight MH17.
The pair stressed “the difficulty investigators are experiencing in
gaining unimpeded and secure access to the crash site,” Pentagon
spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said in a statement.
Hennis-Plasschaert “highlighted the Netherlands’ desire to have the
victims returned to their families as soon as possible, balanced with
the need to support and complete a credible investigation,” Kirby added
MALAYSIA AIRLINES PLANES MH17 SHOOT DOWN IN UKRAINE
A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane has been reportedly shoot down and crashed in Ukraine near Russian border. 298 people on board plane that crashed in eastern Ukraine. Bodies and wreckage found near town of Grabovo. US officials say surface-to-air missile caused crash. However Ukrainian, Russian and rebel leaders deny involvement.
Among others, the passengers involves delegates from the Aids conference are speaking in Canberra, Australia, at a prearranged event at the National Press Club.
Professor Françoise Barré-Sinoussi opened her address with a tearful statement on the reports that a number of delegates were on board the plane. She said her colleagues were on board, she is devastated.
Source: Agencies
VISITORS GEOFLAGS SINCE AUGUST 26, 2009
