An Air India Plane was 25 km away when Flight MH 17 crashed

An Air India Boeing 787 (AI113) and a Singapore Airlines Boeing 777 (SQ351) were only about 25 kilometres away from the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH 17  when it disappeared, according to Flightradar24. Ukraine ATC had lost contact with flight MH17 at 2.15 pm (GMT) at 30 km from Tamak waypoint, approximately 50 km from the Russia-Ukraine border.

Also Read: Malaysia Airlines flight 17 with 295 on board crashes in Ukraine

The Air India Plane identified as AI 113 travels between Amritsar in Punjab and Birmingham in UK via New Delhi. The Flight runs four days a week. The flight from Amritsar  leaves at 1030 hrs IST, reached Delhi at 1150 hrs IST. It again departs from Delhi at 1330 hrs IST and reaches Birmingham at 1800 hrs IST. The service was introduced from August 1, 2013.

Malaysian Airlines also confirmed that it received a notification from Ukrainian Air Traffic Control (ATC) that its flight MH17 with 295 people on board had gone off the radar.

Flight MH17 operated on a Boeing 777 departed Amsterdam at 12.15 p.m. (Amsterdam local time) and was estimated to arrive at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 6.10 a.m. (Malaysia local time) the next day.

The plane crashed in the village of Hrabove just north of Torez, a city in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast, as it was approaching the Russian border. The flight was carrying 280 passengers and 15 crew.

An earlier report had said the plane was “shot down” in Ukraine near the Russian border.