A Boeing 777 operated by Malaysia Airlines crashed in eastern Ukraine this morning. Local authorities are saying the plane was shot down and that all 295 people aboard were killed.
The plane’s route had been closed by Ukrainian authorities below 32,000 feet, but the Malaysia plane was flying at approximately 33,000 feet when it crashed, according to Eurocontrol, an international air traffic management organization.
Fewer flights have crossed through Ukrainian airspace in the past month, but there has still been plenty of traffic, says Mikael Robertsson, co-founder of flight tracking website Flightradar24. There were two other planes within 10 minutes of the Malaysia 777 in its final moments, so it’s not as if everyone had been avoiding the area.
FlightRadar24 provided the tracking information for the flight, which took off from Amsterdam and was headed for Kuala Lumpur. You can see it disappears about 25 miles before reaching the Russian border:
FlightRadar24
And here’s a screenshot of the area showing the moment the plane crashed. Note that there are other planes nearby:
The crashed Malaysia plane wasn’t alone in Ukraine’s airspace. Flightradar24
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