What Happened To Malaysia Airlines? Celebrity Reaction To MH17 Ukraine Crash

Malaysia Airlines MH17 — The wreckage of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which crashed in eastern Ukraine on Thursday Reuters

As news spread of the devastating crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, Twitter lit up with tens of thousands of comments, including dozens from celebrities expressing condolences and shock over the tragedy that has left 295 presumed dead.

Praying for the families of anyone on board - if there was. Developing story is just ...& Malaysian airlines is having the worst year ever.
— Estelle (@EstelleDarlings) July 17, 2014

Praying for the families and friends of the 295 people who passed in the Malaysia Airlines plane crash. May god grant them peace to grieve.
— Kourtney Kardashian (@kourtneykardash) July 17, 2014

Please pray for the families of the passengers of Malaysian Airlines #MH17. May the 295 lives lost… http://t.co/q7lnOwoKBs
— Kris Jenner (@KrisJenner) July 17, 2014

My prayers go out to the families who lost loved ones on the #MalaysiaAirlines flight. #RIP
— R. Kelly (@rkelly) July 17, 2014

prayers to all of the families of the passengers and crew on #MH17.
— Russell Simmons (@UncleRUSH) July 17, 2014

Horrendous for the people of Malaysia, having to go through this all over again.
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) July 17, 2014

“Orange Is the New Black” star Jason Biggs tweeted a joke that backfired.

Anyone wanna buy my Malaysian Airlines frequent flier miles?
— Jason Biggs (@JasonBiggs) July 17, 2014

The crash is the second Malaysia Airlines flight to go down in less than six months, following the early March disappearance of Flight MH370 over the South China Sea with some 240 on board. Its whereabouts are still unknown. With the reports that MH17 was shot down by a missile, some are now suggesting MH370 might have suffered the same fate, the Mirror said.

As a result of the crash and its still-unknown circumstances, several airlines have rerouted their flights to avoid flying over eastern Russia. As of Thursday afternoon, the official cause of the crash had not been determined.

U.S. President Barack Obama briefly spoke on the matter at an event in Delaware, saying the United States "will offer any assistance we can to determine what happened and why."

"Looks like it may be a terrible tragedy. Right now we're working to determine whether there were American citizens on board. That is our first priority," Obama said, according to the Huffington Post. Shortly after his speech, reports came out that 23 Americans were on the doomed flight.

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