Amateur Video of the Crash Emerges

Not long after news of the crash broke, amateur video appeared online showing the crash site from a distance, with smoke billowing:

We translated this audio of this video to the best our ability, though please note that due to sound quality, some words may have been difficult to make out.

“What’s going on?" "It’s a plane. Look!" "It means the pilot died." "Yes." "The plane!" Someone asks, “Why is everyone so excited?” Another voice explains, "At first it was flying. It was coming from this side. It was flying, flying." A third says, “It’s in a couple pieces. That’s what it seems like.”

Gerashchenko Says Separatists Shot Down the Plane

BREAKING: Ukraine rebels shot down Malaysian plane, Gerashchenko says — Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) July 17, 2014

Here's his full quote:

A civilian airliner travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur has just been shot down by a Buk anti-aircraft system ... 280 passengers and 15 crew have been killed."

As for Malaysia Airlines, they have only offered one report on the matter, saying they “lost contact of MH17 from Amsterdam. The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace."

"The most important thing is a flight flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur would have been at 32,000 feet, and for someone to mistake that for a hostile aircraft would be very very difficult," former NTSB Inspector General Mary Schiavo told CNN. "It would be difficult to see how this would be a mistake and see this as an enemy aircraft."

New Video of Crash Emerges

Another amateur video has emerged:

We translated this video to the best our ability, though please note it is a slightly scratchy video with lower sound towards the end:

"I was looking at it and they shot down the plane, look it’s falling, down, it fell. Look over there, behind there [jumbled.] We went outside, pieces are still falling. Something boomed, it's still falling. There’s a lot of black smoke behind it. Look at it look at it. Come outside, look. It's all red, all the black smoke going up. We were just looking how the plane was falling, we were shocked. They must have shot it down, they must have hit it, they hit it. Nobody could be alive."

REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev

Malaysia's Prime Minister Responds

The Malaysian Prime Minister has issued this statement:

I am shocked by reports that an MH plane crashed. We are launching an immediate investigation. — Mohd Najib Tun Razak (@NajibRazak) July 17, 2014

Boeing has limited information on the matter:

We are aware of reports on MH17. We're gathering more information. — Boeing Airplanes (@BoeingAirplanes) July 17, 2014

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko Issues Statement

We have this statement from Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko:

Separatists Take Responsibility on Facebook

Here we have a potential confirmation of the separatists taking responsibility. One of the group's leaders posted online that they taken down a Ukrainian plane:

Separatists thought it was Ukraine's cargo plane. Girkin reported shooting it down. They made a grave mistake. pic.twitter.com/DO2qGUZvo3 — Olena Tregub (@OTregub) July 17, 2014

Here is the translation, to the best of our ability:

"17.07.2014 (17:50) Information from [separatists who have weapons] In the area of Topeza, they just shot down an airline AN-26, it is laying behind a mine. The name of these mine is Progress. We told them not to fly in "our skies". Here is the video confirming this “bird falling.” The bird behind [unclear], it did not hit a residential area. Regular people were not hurt. There is also information about the second shot plane, it seems 'Cy.'"

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