Update: The shooting down of Flight MH17 with 295 people onboard

Flight MH17, a Boeing 777-200 aircraft on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, with 295 people onboard, 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.

UK Daily Mail reports; Russian President Vladimir 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.

Cor Pan

A Dutch passenger posted a haunting Facebook picture just moments before he boarded the doomed plane.

Cor Pan, who is listed on the social media site as living in Volendam in North Holland, uploaded the picture of the aircraft with the caption: ‘If it disappears, this is what it looks like.’

The comment is believed to have been a reference to Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 which disappeared while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March.

After seeing the photo friends initially went along with the joke and wished him a good trip, but their messages quickly turned frantic when news of the crash emerged.

Posting underneath the picture they asked whether his flight was the one that had gone down and said that they were praying that it wasn’t true.

The Security Service of Ukraine, (SBU) reportedly released recordings of the intercepted phone calls between Russian military intelligence officers and Russian-backed Cossack militants to the Kiev Post.

The first phone call was reportedly made at 4.40pm local time, or 20 minutes after the crash.

On the line allegedly is Igor Bezler, who according to the SBU is a Russian military intelligence officer and commander of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.

He is apparently on the phone to a colonel in the Russian Federation armed forces named Vasili Geranin, explaining that the plane has gone down.

The SBU also released to the Kiev Post another telephone conversation between two militants identified only as 'Major' and 'Grek' who have returned from the crash site.

This phone call takes place 40 minutes after that which allegedly took place between Bezler and Geranin.

Militants nicknamed ‘Major’ and ‘Greek’ were recorded speaking as ‘Major’ inspected the crash site and found only ‘civilian items’.

Also on the line were Igor Bezler, who authorities says is a Russian military intelligence officer and leading commander of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, and a colonel in the main intelligence department of the general headquarters of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, Vasili Geranin.

The unverified transcript was posted online by the Kiev Post newspaper:

Igor Bezler: We have just shot down a plane. Group Minera. It fell down beyond Yenakievo (Donetsk Oblast).

Vasili Geranin: Pilots. Where are the pilots?

IB: Gone to search for and photograph the plane. Its smoking.

VG: How many minutes ago?

IB: About 30 minutes ago.

SBU comment: After examining the site of the plane the terrorists come to the conclusion that they have shot down a civilian plane. The next part of the conversation took place about 40 minutes later.

'Major': These are Chernukhin folks who shot down the plane. From the Chernukhin check point. Those cossacks who are based in Chernukhino.

'Grek': Yes, Major.

'Major': The plane fell apart in the air. In the area of Petropavlovskaya mine. The first “200” (code word for dead person). We have found the first '200' - which is code for a civilian.

'Grek': Well, what do you have there?

'Major': In short, it was 100 percent a passenger (civilian) aircraft.

'Grek': Are many people there?

'Major': Holy sh__t! The debris fell right into the yards (of homes).

'Grek': What kind of aircraft?

'Major': I haven’t ascertained this. I haven’t been to the main sight. I am only surveying the scene where the first bodies fell. There are the remains of internal brackets, seats and bodies.

'Grek': Is there anything left of the weapon?

'Major': Absolutely nothing. Civilian items, medicinal stuff, towels, toilet paper.

'Grek': Are there documents?

'Major': Yes, of one Indonesian student. From a university in Thompson.

Militant: Regarding the plane shot down in the area of Snizhne-Torez. It’s a civilian one. Fell down near Grabove. There are lots of corpses of women and children. The Cossacks are out there looking at all this.

They say on TV it’s AN-26 transport plane, but they say it’s written Malaysia Airlines on the plane. What was it doing on Ukraine’s territory?

Nikolay Kozitsin: That means they were carrying spies. They shouldn’t be f**cking flying. There is a war going on.

In a third conversation, a rebel fighter says: 'It turned out to be a passenger plane. It fell in Hrabove area. There's a sea of women and children ...'

He adds: 'But what was it (the Malaysian airlines flight) doing over Ukraine?'

The man he is talking to replies: 'That means they've called up spies. No way to flights. This is war'

'Okay, understood,' he replies.

'They discuss Russian saboteurs bringing down a passenger plane. They discuss the number of victims. We have fixed this conversation as taking place at 4.20. Now you know who carried out this inhuman crime against humanity,' Nalivaychenko said.

'We will open up to all possible channels, the means of this crime being objectively investigated, and the officers of the Russian Federation who carried out this crime being punished.'

Officials for the Obama administration 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.

One of the voices is believed to be militia commander Igor Strelkov, who then penned a triumphant war cry on Twitter, saying: ‘We warned you – do not fly in “our sky”.'

It is believed that he thought he had brought down an Antonov-26 military plane of the Ukrainian Air Force. Later, when the horror became clear, the tweet was deleted.

Meanwhile, reports emerged that the separatists had recovered the plane's black box and had handed it over to Moscow - possibly giving Russia the opportunity to hinder the investigation.

According to Russian news agency Interfax, First Deputy Prime Minister Andriy Purgin of the breakaway Donestsk Republic said the box will be transferred to Moscow for examination.

WHY WAS FLIGHT MH17 FLYING THROUGH A WARZONE IN THE FIRST PLACE?

The airspace Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was flying in when it was shot down was not restricted, but airlines had been warned about the potential dangers, it has emerged.

The International Transport Association said that an initial assessment revealed that the airspace the aircraft was traveling through was 'not subject to restrictions'.

However, it emerged on Thursday that the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777-200 was flying just 300 meters above restricted airspace when it shot down

Previous to this Ukrainian authorities had barred aircraft from ground level to 32,000 feet but the downed plane was cruising at 33,000 feet, within range of ground-to-air missiles, when it was hit.

Indeed, speculation exists that the aircraft may have taken a short-cut across the disputed region of eastern Ukraine to save itself fuel.

On Monday, Eurocontrol – the body that coordinates all traffic across European airspace – sent out an official note to airmen,known as a Notam, repeating the warning and saying it ‘strongly advises’ avoiding the airspace.

But many carriers continued to use the route because it was shorter and therefore cheaper.

On July 8, the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine closed its airspace to civilian aircraft after rebels shot a military transport aircraft that was flying over 20,000 feet.

The restriction warned commercial aircraft against using Ukrainian airspace.

Flight MH17 could have been taking a short cut to save fuel.

The crash comes four months after the mysterious disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 which is thought to have crashed into the Indian Ocean.

Two weeks ago, investigators say what little evidence they have to work with suggests the plane was deliberately diverted thousands of kilometres from its scheduled route before eventually plunging into the Indian Ocean.

But a month later, officials conceded the wreckage was not in that concentrated area, some 1,000 miles off the northwest coast of Australia, and the search area would have to be expanded.

The next phase of the search is expected to start in August and take a year, covering some 60,000 sq km at a cost of AU$60 million ($56 million) or more. The search is already the most expensive in aviation history.