As Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak pleaded for international access to the remains of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner that was shot out of the sky over eastern Ukraine on Thursday, it was left to those living in the village of Grabovo to first respond to the disaster.

U.S. officials have confirmed a surface-to-air missile is responsible for the downing of flight MH17, killing all 298 on board — including one Canadian. The flight was on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Plumes of black smoke led to where the plane went down near Grabovo, a rebel-held village in the eastern region of Ukraine that is at the centre of a tug of war between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces.

Pieces of steel, bloodied bodies — many still intact, even a dead child still strapped into the seat, could be seen strewn over the fields along with personal items such as head phones, luggage and travel guides.

The cockpit and a turbine engine lay a kilometre apart and the tail of the plane landed another 10 km away. Sticks with white flags marked signs of human remains.

“It fell down in pieces,” said one rescue worker as tents were set up to gather the dead.

While both sides blame each other for shooting down the passenger flight, the Kyiv Post reported Ukraine’s security service intercepted a phone call between separatists that seems to indicate they were the ones behind the missile launch.

“It’s 100 percent a passenger (civilian) aircraft,” one militant is recorded as saying, the Kyiv Post reported, adding the two separatists spoke of how there were no weapons at the site.

“Absolutely nothing. Civilian items, medicinal stuff, towels, toilet paper,” they said.

Anti-aircraft equipment was spotted in Donetsk by Associated Press journalists, the news service said. BUK missile systems can fire rockets as high as 22,000 metres.

However, Russian news agencies reported the separatists did not have that type of weapon and if they did, no one could operate it.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko denied the Ukrainian army had anything to do with it and he blamed the act on the terrorists his government has been battling for months.

“We do not exclude that this plane was shot down, and we stress that the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not take action against any airborne targets. We are sure that those who are guilty in this tragedy will be held responsible,” Poroshenko said in Kyiv.

World condemnation was swift, along with a tinge of disbelief. This is the second Malaysia Airlines tragedy this year. In March, a Malaysian jetliner en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared without a trace somewhere in the Indian Ocean with a great loss of life.

U.S. President Barack Obama called the missile attack a “terrible tragedy” and pledged America would help in any way they can. U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden took a tougher stand, saying the plane was “blown out of the sky” and that this was “not an accident.”

But at the Kremlin in Russia, there was defiance from President Vladimir Putin. He pointed his finger directly at Ukraine.

“This tragedy would not have happened if there were peace on this land, if the military actions had not been renewed in southeast Ukraine. And, certainly, the state over whose territory this occurred bears responsibility for this awful tragedy,” Putin said before a meeting with his economic advisers.

At a press conference, Malaysian PM Razak begged both sides to allow an international team full access to the crash site with no interference.

Razak called Thursday a tragic day to what already has been a tragic year for Malaysia.

Malaysia Airlines said it was notified by Ukrainian aviation authorities that they had lost contact with flight MH17 approximately 50 km from the Russian border, in an area that has recently seen heavy fighting.

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The plane left Amsterdam at 12:15 p.m. local time and was scheduled to arrive at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 6:10 a.m. (Malaysia local time) on Friday.

The Boeing 777 travelled a normal, heavily used flight path to get to Malaysia.

Ukrainian aviation officials had warned of not travelling through the area below 9,750 metres but the flight was flying 10,000 metres high when contact with the plane was lost.

Many of the 295 victims appear to be Dutch: 154 are listed from the Netherlands, 38 from Malaysia, 27 Australians, 11 Indonesians, six from the United Kingdom, four Germans, four Belgians, three from the Philippines and one Canadian.

Russian news services reported 23 Americans were also killed on the flight. They added no Russians were on board.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered his condolences to families of the dead and he denounced Russia’s aggression in east Ukraine.

“While we do not yet know who is responsible for this attack, we continue to condemn Russia’s military aggression and illegal occupation of Ukraine, which is at the root of the ongoing conflict in the region,” Harper said in a statement.

Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs was aware of reports a Canadian was on the flight and was trying to confirm. Friends and relatives seeking information can call 1-800-387-3124, or send an email to sos@international.gc.ca .

Identities of many are still being traced and confirmed, however, Twitter was quick to identify some of the victims, including the World Health Organization’s Glenn Thomas, who was en route to the International AIDS conference in Melbourne, Australia, and Joep Lange, an HIV/AIDS researcher from the Netherlands who was to attend the same meeting.

In the past week, two Ukrainian planes have been shot down in the area near to where the fighting has taken place.

On Monday, a Ukrainian military transport plane was shot down and on Thursday, Ukrainian officials say a Russian jet shot down a Ukrainian SU-24, with a missile, over Donetsk.

With files from Associated Press, Paul Clarke, Jennifer Yang, New York Times

This unverified video purports to show the Malaysia passenger airliner crashing in Ukraine near the Russian border.

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