298 Passengers, Including 100 Children All Dead – See The Disastrous Scenes From The Malaysia MH370 Airplane Crash

As shocking pictures of bodies and debris emerged, the tragedy sparked a full-blown international crisis last night, increasing tension between Moscow and Washington. Russian President Vladimir Putin has blamed Ukraine for the Malaysian Airlines tragedy that claimed the lives of all 298 people on board, including around
100 children but didn't deny Russian-backed separatists were to blame for shooting it out of the sky.

Flight MH17, a Boeing 777-200 aircraft on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, exploded into flames at 33,000ft as it was hit by a sophisticated surface-to-air missile over territory near Donetsk held by pro-Russian rebels.

Dutch authorities have said that at least nine Britons, 154 Dutch, 27 Australians were among the dead. The nationalities of 41 people on board have not been confirmed. Earlier it was feared that 23 Americans had perished based on a Reuters report, but there has been no confirmation of any U.S. deaths since then from the State Department.

Mr Putin said: 'This tragedy would not have happened if there were peace on this land, if the military actions had not been renewed in south-east Ukraine. And, certainly, the state over whose territory this occurred bears responsibility for this awful tragedy.'

Officials for the Obama administration - which had only yesterday stepped up sanctions against Russia for backing the separatists - confirmed the plane was hit by a single missile while at cruising speed and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said that 'it was not an accident', adding it was 'blown out of the sky'.
Biden, who had talked with Ukrainian President Poroshenko on the phone, is the most senior US official to raise the idea that the aircraft was deliberately brought down - but he did not divulge who he thought was responsible.

But U.S. Senator John McCain said there 'would be hell to pay' if the plane was shot down by the Russian military or separatists. He said: 'To leap to conclusions could be very embarrassing... But if it is the result of either separatist or Russian actions mistakenly believing this was a Ukrainian war plane, I think there's going to be hell to pay and there should be'.
McCain's suspicions were further backed up by video footage and tweets that emerged in the aftermath of the tragedy. Rebels can be heard gleefully bragging about bringing down the plane as a fireball rose from the debris