Day 2 of MH17 tragedy
Latest developments
MAS releases full list of MH17 passengers
9.35pm: Malaysia Airlines (MAS) makes public the full passenger list of MH17.
The list provides the name, nationality and gender of all 298 people - 283 passengers and 15 crew members - on board of the ill-fated flight.
Full list here.
'MAS not to be blamed for Ukraine route'
8.15pm: Pilot and author James Fallows and urged the public not to blame Malaysia Airlines for flying MH17 over a conflict zone, saying that the airline is right to believe that the route was safe.
He said the entire aviation system is built on the premise that unless an airspace is explicitly marked as off-limits, it is presumed to be safe and legal to fly there.
“The airlines want to minimise cost and time by going as directly as possible, and they rely on regulators to tell them where they cannot go,” said Fallows, in an op-ed published in the New York Times.
He said prior take-off, the crew of MH17 would have been made aware not only of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, but procedures dictate that they should also be informed that a Ukrainian military transport was downed in the region a few days prior, and that it should stay above 32,000 feet (9,750 metres).
This is akin to a car driver driving just below the speed limit should assume that it is safe and legal to do so, partly because only military-grade equipment can reach that high.
“This is why, even during wartime, airliners have frequently flown across Iraq and Afghanistan. The restricted zone over Ukraine was meant to protect against accidental fire or collateral damage.
“It didn’t envision a military attack,” said Fallows, who is also a correspondent for The Atlantic, another US-based newspaper.
Russian caught editing Wiki entry on MH17
6.45pm: Website Global Voices claims someone from the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK) was caught editing a Russian-language Wikipedia reference to MH17 in an article on aviation disasters.
This is all thanks to a Twitter bot that monitors Wikipedia edits made from Russian government IP addresses.
The tweet reads: "Wikipedia article List of aircraft accidents in civil aviation has been edited by RTR [another name for VGTRK]" (Google Translate).
The edit was in response to an initial edit to the MH17 section that said the plane was shot down "by terrorists of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic with Buk system missiles, which the terrorists received from the Russian Federation.
In a counter-edit less than an hour later, the entry was changed to say, "The plane was shot down by Ukrainian soldiers."
Travel plan change proves fatal for Michelin star chef
5.30pm: South China Morning Post today reports how a celebrated Hong Kong-born chef and his Malaysian wife made a change in their usual travel route that proved fatal.
Fiftysomething Fan Shun-po and Jenny Fan, who run a restaurant in Rotterdam, would usually fly from Amsterdam to Hong Kong before visiting Kuala Lumpur.
This trip however they decided on the direct flight to KL that landed them on the ill-fated MH17 flight.
According to the report, Fan had wanted to take her elderly mother from KL up to Penang.
Penang CM meets local next of kin
2pm: Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng held a private meeting with the parents of several of passengers who had perished on MH17.
"The CM met distraught parents and though grieving, they remain strong. We must seek justice for the family," the CM tweeted today.
Meanwhile at 9.30am this morning, Gerakan Penang led by its secretary Oh Tong Keong today brought the flags of Malaysia, Penang, BN and party down to half mast to mourn the tragic loss of victims on MH17.
The flags will remain at half mast at Gerakan's state headquarters along Jalan Macalister until July 21.
Segambut MP calls for non-partisan select committee
1.30pm: Ahead of a planned emergency parliamentary sitting on MH17 next Wednesday, Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng calls for the formation of a parliamentary select committee on the incident.
"I suggest Prime Minister Najib Abul Razak to form a non-partisan parliamentary select committee to query the Russian and Ukrainian ambassadors on MH17," he says in a Twitter posting.
1.10pm: NGO Proham in a statement calls on the international community to stand with Malaysia and "undertake appropriate intervention to investigate and bring the guilty to trial and ensure justice is done for all the people affected".
"The gunning down of MH17 is ‘a crime against humanity’, a clear violation of human rights and inconsistent of conduct during a conflict or in times of war," said Proham chairperson Kuthubul Zaman and secretary general Denison Jayasooria in a statement today.
Full passengers' nationalities finally revealed
1.03pm: MAS finally releases the complete list of the nationalities of MH17's 298 passengers.
12.30pm: Bernama reports the special Malaysia investigation team sent to assist with the discovery and identification of victims of MH17 has arrived at the Kiev International Airport at 9am Malaysian time.
“I hope the process will run smoothly for the investigation team,” delegation head Khairil Hilmi Mokhtar tells Malaysian journalists upon arrival at the airport.
The 131-member team, which includes police forensics officers, Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team and medical officials, left Kuala Lumpur on Friday night on a chartered flight.
Khairil Hilmi, who is also National Security Council Cross Border Management Division principal assistant secretary, says several issues needed to be discussed since the crash site was located 500km from Kiev.
Liow heads to Kiev to ensure safe passage to site
12:3pm: Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai says he will be flying to Kiev today to ensure safe passage for Malaysian crew to visit the MH17 crash site in Donetsk.
He also says reports that the plane's black boxes have been recovered have not been verified.
He said this when surrounded by the media during what was supposed to be just a photo session together with Defence Minister Hishamuddin Hussein at the Sama Sama Hotel lobby this morning.
Anwar backs PM's emergency parliamentary session
12.10pm: Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim backs Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's call for an emergency parliamentary sitting on the downing of Flight MH17.
"We in Pakatan are totally committed to any resolution to categorically condemn the mass murder committed by the perpetrators.
"In this regard, the prime minister must be unequivocal in naming the party or parties responsible, whoever they may be.
"We also fully support the demand that the culprits of this crime be brought to justice and that all necessary measures be taken to facilitate a swift, effective and independent investigation," he says in a statement.
11.37am: Malaysia Airlines in a statement today announces it is waiving fees to change any of its MH flights to any destination.
"Passengers who wish to postpone or cancel their travel plans can obtain a refund, including for non refundable tickets," it says.
The waiver is applicable from July 18 to Jul 24 for travel between July 18 to Dec 31 in light of the MH17 disaster.
WSJ: Two disasters in five months could cripple MAS
10.55am: A Wall Street Journal report says Malaysia Airlines losing two aircraft totalling 537 lives on board in a span of under five months could deal a crippling blow to the troubled carrier.
"A double tragedy of this nature after such a short period is unheard of in the industry. They were the wrong airline in the wrong place at the wrong time," Hill+Knowlton Strategies global vice chairman and crisis-management expert Vivian Lines were quoted saying.
A partner at consultancy firm Global Market Advisors Jonathan Galaviz was also quoted as saying that the business implication to MAS is "very, very significant".
"The Malaysian Airlines brand is heavily damaged, even if it's not the airline's fault," he says.
Prior to the July 17 disaster, MAS on March 8 lost Flight MH370 with 239 people on board. The aircraft has yet to be found and is believed to have crashed in the Indian Ocean.
Russian papers play down MH17 news
10am: UK's The Guardian reports that the downing of Flight MH17 is being played down in Russia even though the rest of the world is giving it prominence on their front pages.
"State-run Rossiyskaya Gazeta led with a story about the eating habits of Russians, relegating the 298 deaths on board MH17 to the bottom of the front page," it says.
The daily adds that other newspapers in Russia including the respected Vedomosti led with stories about US sanctions on Russia.
The Guardian describes this as "a strange editorial decision or a conscious plan to play down an attack that much of the world was already linking to Russia".
Journalist quits pro-Kremlin RT over MH17 coverage
9.20am: Sara Firth, London-based correspondent for Russian government-funded news channel RT has resigned in protest of the channel's coverage of the Flight MH17 incident.
“It was the most shockingly obvious misinformation, and it got to the point where I couldn't defend it any more,” UK-based The Guardian quoted Firth saying.
RT has been accused of bias and propaganda for following the Kremlin's line of accusing the Western-backed Ukraine government of shooting down the aircraft.
Yesterday, RT claimed Ukraine was attempting to target Russian president Vladimir Putin's aircraft, which uses the same route as Flight MH17.
Firth, 28, is the second journalist to quit RT over the news channel's reporting of Russian military intervention in Ukraine, which began late February.
In an interview last year, Firth had defended RT and insisted that the perceived bad image of the pro-Kremlin TV station was false.
“Facts are my religion,” she had said. “When it comes to covering a story if anyone asked me to alter or drop something I’d be out. I wouldn’t think twice about it.”
UN aviation body corrects Liow’s statement
8.35am: The UN civil aviation body on Friday said it was not responsible for issuing warnings about potential dangers such as military conflicts, saying that duty fell to individual nations.
"The International Civil Aviation Authority does not declare airspace safe or unsafe or undertake any other direct operational responsibilities with respect to civilian air services," said ICAO spokesman Anthony Philbin.
Malaysia's transport minister Liow Tiong Lai has yesterday said that ICAO had shut down a route over eastern Ukraine after a Malaysian airliner was shot down on Thursday, killing almost 300 people.
ICAO said it did not have the power to open or shut routes.
According to the international body, this could be a misreading of what the body does. ICAO issues advisories based on decisions taken by delegates rather than telling members what to do.
Full report here.
Malaysians pay respects in candlelight vigil
7am: Global Peace Foundation's Nelson Mandela Day last night turned into a candlelight vigil for MH17.
A group of about
100 local and international students and public turned up at The Curve in remembrance of Nelson Mandela and held the vigil with candles and prayers.
Background
Latest developments
- MAS releases full list of MH17 passengers
- Russian media downplays MH17 news, journalist quits in protest
- UN aviation body corrects Liow’s statement
- Gunmen deny monitors proper access to crash site
- Ukrainian authorities yesterday report finding black boxes
MAS releases full list of MH17 passengers
9.35pm: Malaysia Airlines (MAS) makes public the full passenger list of MH17.
The list provides the name, nationality and gender of all 298 people - 283 passengers and 15 crew members - on board of the ill-fated flight.
Full list here.
'MAS not to be blamed for Ukraine route'
8.15pm: Pilot and author James Fallows and urged the public not to blame Malaysia Airlines for flying MH17 over a conflict zone, saying that the airline is right to believe that the route was safe.
He said the entire aviation system is built on the premise that unless an airspace is explicitly marked as off-limits, it is presumed to be safe and legal to fly there.
“The airlines want to minimise cost and time by going as directly as possible, and they rely on regulators to tell them where they cannot go,” said Fallows, in an op-ed published in the New York Times.
He said prior take-off, the crew of MH17 would have been made aware not only of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, but procedures dictate that they should also be informed that a Ukrainian military transport was downed in the region a few days prior, and that it should stay above 32,000 feet (9,750 metres).
This is akin to a car driver driving just below the speed limit should assume that it is safe and legal to do so, partly because only military-grade equipment can reach that high.
“This is why, even during wartime, airliners have frequently flown across Iraq and Afghanistan. The restricted zone over Ukraine was meant to protect against accidental fire or collateral damage.
“It didn’t envision a military attack,” said Fallows, who is also a correspondent for The Atlantic, another US-based newspaper.
Russian caught editing Wiki entry on MH17
6.45pm: Website Global Voices claims someone from the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK) was caught editing a Russian-language Wikipedia reference to MH17 in an article on aviation disasters.This is all thanks to a Twitter bot that monitors Wikipedia edits made from Russian government IP addresses.
The tweet reads: "Wikipedia article List of aircraft accidents in civil aviation has been edited by RTR [another name for VGTRK]" (Google Translate).
The edit was in response to an initial edit to the MH17 section that said the plane was shot down "by terrorists of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic with Buk system missiles, which the terrorists received from the Russian Federation.
In a counter-edit less than an hour later, the entry was changed to say, "The plane was shot down by Ukrainian soldiers."
Travel plan change proves fatal for Michelin star chef
5.30pm: South China Morning Post today reports how a celebrated Hong Kong-born chef and his Malaysian wife made a change in their usual travel route that proved fatal.
Fiftysomething Fan Shun-po and Jenny Fan, who run a restaurant in Rotterdam, would usually fly from Amsterdam to Hong Kong before visiting Kuala Lumpur.
This trip however they decided on the direct flight to KL that landed them on the ill-fated MH17 flight.
According to the report, Fan had wanted to take her elderly mother from KL up to Penang.
Penang CM meets local next of kin
2pm: Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng held a private meeting with the parents of several of passengers who had perished on MH17."The CM met distraught parents and though grieving, they remain strong. We must seek justice for the family," the CM tweeted today.
Meanwhile at 9.30am this morning, Gerakan Penang led by its secretary Oh Tong Keong today brought the flags of Malaysia, Penang, BN and party down to half mast to mourn the tragic loss of victims on MH17.
The flags will remain at half mast at Gerakan's state headquarters along Jalan Macalister until July 21.
Segambut MP calls for non-partisan select committee
1.30pm: Ahead of a planned emergency parliamentary sitting on MH17 next Wednesday, Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng calls for the formation of a parliamentary select committee on the incident.
"I suggest Prime Minister Najib Abul Razak to form a non-partisan parliamentary select committee to query the Russian and Ukrainian ambassadors on MH17," he says in a Twitter posting.
1.10pm: NGO Proham in a statement calls on the international community to stand with Malaysia and "undertake appropriate intervention to investigate and bring the guilty to trial and ensure justice is done for all the people affected"."The gunning down of MH17 is ‘a crime against humanity’, a clear violation of human rights and inconsistent of conduct during a conflict or in times of war," said Proham chairperson Kuthubul Zaman and secretary general Denison Jayasooria in a statement today.
Full passengers' nationalities finally revealed
1.03pm: MAS finally releases the complete list of the nationalities of MH17's 298 passengers.
- Netherlands 192 (one dual Netherlands/US citizen)
- Malaysia 44 (including 15 crew and 2 infants)
- Australia 27
- Indonesia 12 (including 1 infant)
- United Kingdom 10 (one dual UK/South Africa citizen)
- Germany 4
- Belgium 4
- Philippines 3
- Canada 1
- New Zealand 1
12.30pm: Bernama reports the special Malaysia investigation team sent to assist with the discovery and identification of victims of MH17 has arrived at the Kiev International Airport at 9am Malaysian time.
“I hope the process will run smoothly for the investigation team,” delegation head Khairil Hilmi Mokhtar tells Malaysian journalists upon arrival at the airport.The 131-member team, which includes police forensics officers, Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team and medical officials, left Kuala Lumpur on Friday night on a chartered flight.
Khairil Hilmi, who is also National Security Council Cross Border Management Division principal assistant secretary, says several issues needed to be discussed since the crash site was located 500km from Kiev.
Liow heads to Kiev to ensure safe passage to site
12:3pm: Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai says he will be flying to Kiev today to ensure safe passage for Malaysian crew to visit the MH17 crash site in Donetsk.
He also says reports that the plane's black boxes have been recovered have not been verified.
He said this when surrounded by the media during what was supposed to be just a photo session together with Defence Minister Hishamuddin Hussein at the Sama Sama Hotel lobby this morning.
Anwar backs PM's emergency parliamentary session
12.10pm: Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim backs Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's call for an emergency parliamentary sitting on the downing of Flight MH17.
"We in Pakatan are totally committed to any resolution to categorically condemn the mass murder committed by the perpetrators."In this regard, the prime minister must be unequivocal in naming the party or parties responsible, whoever they may be.
"We also fully support the demand that the culprits of this crime be brought to justice and that all necessary measures be taken to facilitate a swift, effective and independent investigation," he says in a statement.
11.37am: Malaysia Airlines in a statement today announces it is waiving fees to change any of its MH flights to any destination.
"Passengers who wish to postpone or cancel their travel plans can obtain a refund, including for non refundable tickets," it says.
The waiver is applicable from July 18 to Jul 24 for travel between July 18 to Dec 31 in light of the MH17 disaster.
WSJ: Two disasters in five months could cripple MAS
10.55am: A Wall Street Journal report says Malaysia Airlines losing two aircraft totalling 537 lives on board in a span of under five months could deal a crippling blow to the troubled carrier.
"A double tragedy of this nature after such a short period is unheard of in the industry. They were the wrong airline in the wrong place at the wrong time," Hill+Knowlton Strategies global vice chairman and crisis-management expert Vivian Lines were quoted saying.A partner at consultancy firm Global Market Advisors Jonathan Galaviz was also quoted as saying that the business implication to MAS is "very, very significant".
"The Malaysian Airlines brand is heavily damaged, even if it's not the airline's fault," he says.
Prior to the July 17 disaster, MAS on March 8 lost Flight MH370 with 239 people on board. The aircraft has yet to be found and is believed to have crashed in the Indian Ocean.
Russian papers play down MH17 news
10am: UK's The Guardian reports that the downing of Flight MH17 is being played down in Russia even though the rest of the world is giving it prominence on their front pages.
"State-run Rossiyskaya Gazeta led with a story about the eating habits of Russians, relegating the 298 deaths on board MH17 to the bottom of the front page," it says.
The daily adds that other newspapers in Russia including the respected Vedomosti led with stories about US sanctions on Russia.
The Guardian describes this as "a strange editorial decision or a conscious plan to play down an attack that much of the world was already linking to Russia".
Journalist quits pro-Kremlin RT over MH17 coverage
9.20am: Sara Firth, London-based correspondent for Russian government-funded news channel RT has resigned in protest of the channel's coverage of the Flight MH17 incident.“It was the most shockingly obvious misinformation, and it got to the point where I couldn't defend it any more,” UK-based The Guardian quoted Firth saying.
RT has been accused of bias and propaganda for following the Kremlin's line of accusing the Western-backed Ukraine government of shooting down the aircraft.
Yesterday, RT claimed Ukraine was attempting to target Russian president Vladimir Putin's aircraft, which uses the same route as Flight MH17.
Firth, 28, is the second journalist to quit RT over the news channel's reporting of Russian military intervention in Ukraine, which began late February.In an interview last year, Firth had defended RT and insisted that the perceived bad image of the pro-Kremlin TV station was false.
“Facts are my religion,” she had said. “When it comes to covering a story if anyone asked me to alter or drop something I’d be out. I wouldn’t think twice about it.”
UN aviation body corrects Liow’s statement
8.35am: The UN civil aviation body on Friday said it was not responsible for issuing warnings about potential dangers such as military conflicts, saying that duty fell to individual nations.
"The International Civil Aviation Authority does not declare airspace safe or unsafe or undertake any other direct operational responsibilities with respect to civilian air services," said ICAO spokesman Anthony Philbin.
Malaysia's transport minister Liow Tiong Lai has yesterday said that ICAO had shut down a route over eastern Ukraine after a Malaysian airliner was shot down on Thursday, killing almost 300 people.
ICAO said it did not have the power to open or shut routes.
According to the international body, this could be a misreading of what the body does. ICAO issues advisories based on decisions taken by delegates rather than telling members what to do.
Full report here.
Malaysians pay respects in candlelight vigil
7am: Global Peace Foundation's Nelson Mandela Day last night turned into a candlelight vigil for MH17.
A group of about
100 local and international students and public turned up at The Curve in remembrance of Nelson Mandela and held the vigil with candles and prayers.Background
- Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 with 298 people on board crashed in eastern Ukraine at around 10.15pm on July 17 (Malaysian time), near the Ukraine-Russia border. The Boeing 777-200 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur and was due to arrive at 6am the next day.
- A proxy war is taking place in the area pitting the Western-backed Ukraine government against Ukrainian separatists supported by Russia. It is said to be the worst crisis between the West and the former Soviet republic since the Cold War.
- US says it is convinced the aircraft was shot down by a surface-to-air missile from territory controlled by Russian-backed Ukrainian rebels.
- Russian president Vladimir Putin has blamed the tragedy on the Ukraine government for prolonging the war against the separatists, but has not directly addressed the perpetrators who downed the aircraft.
- Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak says Malaysia will not assign blame until there is concrete evidence but wants "swift justice" against the perpetrators if it is proven that the passenger aircraft was shot down.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.