“There were 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board the plane,” Malaysia Airlines Europe vice president Huib Gorter told reporters at a press briefing at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport from which the plane departed.
At least 154 people on the plane were Dutch. Other nationalities identified were 27 Australians, 23 Malaysians (including all 15 crew members), 11 Indonesians, four British, four Germans, four Belgians, three Filipinos and one Canadian.
All the passengers have been killed in the crash, Gorter confirmed. He meanwhile said there are still 47 dead whose nationalities have yet to be confirmed.
Philippine Foreign Affairs spokesperson Charles Jose also confirmed that Filipinos were aboard the doomed Malaysian flight. “Kinukumpirma natin may tatlong Pilipinong sakay and MH17,” he said in a dzBB interview.
The identities of the Filipinos have yet to be determined. “Ang embassy po natin sa Kuala Lumpur at sa Netherlands ay nakikipag-ugnayan sa dalawang gobyerno at sa airlines para makakuha ng more information,” Jose added.
U.S. intelligence authorities have claimed a surface-to-air missile took down the passenger jet in Eastern Ukraine, but Washington was not keen on pointing fingers. U.S. President Barack Obama called the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Malaysia.
Both Ukraine’s government and pro-Russia rebels have denied responsibility for the alleged strike. The two camps, however accused each other of taking down the plane using missiles without offering explanation or proof.
The passenger plane crashed near a village held by pro-Russia fighters 40 kilometers from the Russia border. Malaysia Airlines said it has been told by Ukrainian aviation officials that they lost contact with the plane near the Ukraine-Russia border.
This is the second Malaysia Airlines plane that crashed this year. On March 8, Flight MH370 disappeared, carrying 239 passengers and crew. Latest reports said the missing plane was most likely on autopilot when it crashed into the Indian Ocean.