MOSCOW, July 18 (RIA Novosti) – Kiev has promised to provide a safe corridor for Malaysian specialists to reach the crash site of a passenger plane in eastern Ukraine, Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said Friday.
A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed near the town of Torez in the Donetsk Region on Thursday, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board.
Kiev blamed independence supporters in the turbulent Donetsk Region for downing the passenger plane with a surface-to-air missile. Militia forces said they had no missile systems that could hit a target flying at an altitude of 10,000 meters.
Media reports suggested that the plane changed its route and was then shot down by a surface-to-air missile, but Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said that the airliner did not divert from its previously approved flight path.
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed the need for an objective investigation of the tragedy.
Ukrainian authorities and Malaysia Airlines are investigating the incident. The authorities from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine are discussing a ceasefire with Kiev in order to help the investigation.
