Malaysia Airlines MH17: Ukraine Plane Crash Ignites Twitter

The crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in Ukraine on Thursday shocked the world and set Twitter abuzz. Thousands took to the social media site to share their condolences after reports that pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine shot down the plane, which was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. That report has not been confirmed.

The tragic crash had already garnered more than 810,000 tweets by mid-afternoon on Thursday. All of those tweets discussed or mentioned the incident, according to data powered by Brandwatch. More than 65,000 netizens used the hashtag #MH17 and more than 8,200 used the hashtag #prayformh17.

All 295 passengers were killed, a Ukrainian interior ministry official told Interfax. An Associated Press journalist said 22 bodies were discovered among the wreckage near Torez, in Eastern Ukraine, which is 25 miles from the Russian frontier. Most of the breaking news surrounding the case has been shared on Twitter, whether it was coming from the AP or Malaysia Airlines, which said it lost contact with the plane as it flew over Ukrainian airspace.

Malaysia Airlines confirmed the plane went missing on radar in a statement on Thursday.

“Malaysia Airlines confirms it received notification from Ukrainian ATC that it had lost contact with flight MH17 at 1415 (GMT) at 30km from Tamak waypoint, approximately 50km from the Russia-Ukraine border,” the airline said.

This is the second Malaysia Airlines plane to crash this year. Flight MH370 vanished in March and has never been found. Now, some have wondered if Flight MH370 was shot down like many surmise Flight MH17 was shot down, the Mirror wrote.

Several airlines, which include Lufthansa, Air France, British Airways, Turkish airlines, and Russian airline Aeroflot said they would avoid flying over Eastern Ukraine, according to Reuters.

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