Narendra Modi writes to Malaysian PM over MH17 crash, says outrage justifiable

Zee Media Bureau/Kamna Arora & Hemant Abhishek

Indian PM Narendra Modi has written to his Malaysian counterpart over airline tragedy, saying worldwide outrage over the mishap was justifiable.

Modi wrote to Najib Razak saying that India fully supports efforts for a probe that can help establish exact circumstances in which the incident took place.

International anger towards Russia mounted Sunday after armed separatists denied full access to inspectors and rebels were accused of tampering with evidence at the crash site of the Malaysian MH17 jet in eastern Ukraine.

British Prime Minister David Cameron raised the prospect Saturday of fresh EU sanctions against Russia over the Malaysian plane crash, saying the West must "fundamentally change our approach" unless Moscow alters course in Ukraine.

Top US diplomat John Kerry told his Russian counterpart Saturday that Washington was "deeply concerned" that international investigators were being denied access to the Malaysian jet`s crash site in Ukraine.

The French and Ukrainian presidents said Saturday that any obstruction preventing international investigators reaching the crash site of flight MH17 will "not be tolerated".

A person of Scottish descent is known to have died in the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash, reports quoted Scotland`s First Minister Alex Salmond as saying.

The identity of the Scottish victim is yet to be confirmed.

Ten of the 298 people on the flight were known to be from the UK.

The Dutch government has not yet pointed a finger at the possible perpetrators of the Malaysian passenger plane crash in eastern Ukraine, but some Dutch newspapers seem to have their own opinions on this.

The headline of the biggest national newspaper De Telegraaf says it all with a banner headline in the front page: "MURDERERS." The headline is accompanied by a picture of pro-Russian separatists in the region.

"I do not want to speculate and point the finger," Xinhua quoted Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte as saying Friday. "I want the facts to emerge. If so, it will be more likely that an investigation is coming. It seems that the MH17 was shot down, but the precise circumstances are not yet clear. We want to rely on the facts."

Newspaper Algemeen Dagblad supported the approach of Rutte: "As the past months show, emotions don`t solve anything."

In the main editorial of de Volkskrant, Russian President Vladimir Putin gets the blame. "Europe does not tolerate fumbling at borders, does not tolerate claims about defending the interest of ethnic countrymen outside their own borders and does not tolerate state propaganda fueling bloodlust," it stated.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed for an international investigation into the downing of a Malaysian plane over Ukraine, and for rapid access to the crash site, Berlin said on Saturday.

The two leaders, who spoke on the telephone, "agreed that an international, independent commission under the direction of ICAO (UN`s International Civil Aviation Organization) should quickly have access to the site of the accident... to shed light on the circumstances of the crash and move the victims," said a German government statement.

A Kremlin statement on the same phone call said that "both sides stressed the importance of a thorough and objective investigation of all circumstances relating to what has happened."

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the US administration sought to pin the blame on separatists and Russia without waiting for the results of an investigation.

"The statements of representatives of the US administration are evidence of a deep political aberration of Washington`s perception of what is going on in Ukraine," he told Russian news agencies.

"At least, that is how the relevant statements can be interpreted. Despite an obvious and indisputable nature of the arguments provided by rebels and Moscow, the US administration is pushing its own agenda," he said.

Malaysia has said vital evidence at the Ukrainian site where flight MH17 went down had been tampered with, calling it a "betrayal" of the lives lost in the disaster.

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai told a press conference: "Any actions that prevent us from learning the truth about what happened to MH17 cannot be tolerated. Failure to stop such interference would be a betrayal of the lives that were lost".

Reuters has quoted Ukraine`s security council as saying that emergencies ministry has found 186 bodies at crash site of Malaysia Airlines. It further vowed to support ceasefire if rebels lay down weapons, hand over control of border and allow OSCE monitoring.

The blamegame over the crash of the Malaysian jetliner in eastern Ukraine continued today. Russian Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov has come out with a list of 10 "simple" questions for the Ukrainian government, which he said were key to determining who shot down the Malaysian airline.

He also said Kiev should release details regarding its alleged use of Buk missile systems in eastern Ukraine

Ukraine has accused Russia of helping separatist insurgents to destroy evidence at MH17 crash site.

Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed shock over the crash and called for a fair and objective probe.

A Malaysian team, including two air accident investigators, has arrived in Kiev. Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai was due to leave for Kiev later today. On Friday, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone to stress the need for an objective, unfettered probe into the crash that killed 298 people.

Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels have agreed to set up a security zone around the crash site of a Malaysian jet that was apparently shot down in the separatist east, Ukraine`s security service chief said.

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee has conveyed grief and sympathy over the Malaysia Airlines flight crash in eastern Ukraine. In a message to the King of Malaysia, the President said: "On behalf of the government, people of India and on my own behalf, I wish to convey my sincere grief and sympathy to the government and people of Malaysia over the Malaysia Airlines flight crash in eastern Ukraine, leading to the loss of so many precious lives."

The Malaysia Airlines has confirmed the nationalities of all the 298 people onboard flight MH17 which crashed in Ukraine on Thursday.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Russia could not "wash its hands of responsibility" for the Malaysia Airlines crash in Ukraine. He said all the evidence at hand suggested the aircraft was shot down from territory controlled by Russian-backed separatists, most likely with weaponry supplied by the Russians.

International AIDS Society president Francoise Barre-Sinoussi said six colleagues heading for a global conference in Melbourne were on a Malaysian plane that crashed over Ukraine, not 100 as reports suggested.

Malaysia`s Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein confirmed on Saturday that Prime Minister Najib Razak`s step-grandmother was on board the Malaysia Airlines passenger jet that crashed in Ukraine.

No Sri Lankan national was among the 298 people killed when the Malaysia Airlines plane was downed, Xinhua quoted Sri Lankan Ambassador to the Netherlands, Buddhi Athauda, as telling media.

Hours after blaming Russia-baked Ukrainian separatists for the shooting down of a Malaysia Airlines plane that killed nearly 300 people, US President Barack Obama has called on his counterparts seeking an impartial international investigation.

In separate phone calls with British Prime Minister David Cameroon, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Obama agreed on a prompt, full, unimpeded and transparent international investigation, the White House said in a statement.

Interpol has said it will send a team in the next 48 hours to help identify victims killed by the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash in east Ukraine.

International monitors probing the Malaysia Airlines crash said the team was not given full access to the site and was greeted with hostility by armed men. CNN quoted Michael Bociurkiw, the spokesman for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe team, as saying that the armed men, apparently pro-Russia militants, loosely guarded the area but couldn`t answer the monitors` questions.

The Netherlands would not rest until the perpetrators of the possible attack on the crashed Malaysian plane were detected, the Dutch Prime Minister said on Friday.

Speaking at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, Russia`s Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin has questioned why Ukrainian aviation authorities allowed a passenger flight through an area of armed clashes where anti-aircraft systems were working.

France`s President Francois Hollande announced on Friday that there was no French national among casualties of the Malaysia Airlines plane crash in eastern Ukraine.

A top pro-Russia rebel commander in eastern Ukraine has given a bizarre version of events surrounding the Malaysian jetliner crash suggesting many of the victims may have died days before the plane took off.

The pro-rebel website Russkaya Vesna today quoted Igor Girkin as saying he was told by people at the crash site that "a significant number of the bodies weren`t fresh," adding that he was told they were drained of blood and reeked of decomposition.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777 was shot down on Thursday, killing all 298 people aboard. The plane was flying 10,000 meters above an area where Ukrainian forces have been fighting separatist rebels. Each side accuses the other of downing the plane.
US intelligence authorities said a surface-to-air missile brought down the plane, and US Ambassador Samantha Power told the UN Security Council in New York on Friday that the missile was likely fired from a rebel-held area near the Russian border.