All 295 people on board a Malaysia Airlines plane were feared dead today after the aircraft was reportedly shot down over war-torn eastern Ukraine near the Russian border. The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur carrying 280 passengers and 15 crew.

The passenger liner came down close to the town of Shaktarsk in Ukraine's rebellion-wracked region of Donetsk after disappearing from the radar and teams from the emergency services were trying to reach the scene, Russian media quoted
an unnamed security source as saying.

Burning aircraft wreckage and bodies strewn on the ground were seen at the village of Grabovo, some 40 kms from the Russian border in an area where pro-Russian rebels are reportedly active.

Malaysia Airlines confirmed on Twitter, Malaysian Airlines has lost contact of MH17 from Amsterdam. The last known position of the plane was over Ukrainian airspace.

Malaysia's Star newspaper quoting sources said the plane was shot down while cruising at an altitude of 30,000 feet. Ukraine Interior Ministry said 295 people are feared dead in the crash, it said.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko also said that the jetliner may have been shot down over his country's airspace. The plane could have been brought down by a ground-to-air missile, sources said.

ITAR-Tass news agency reported that the airliner flying at the altitude of over 10,000 metres was supposed to enter the Russian air space at 17:20 Moscow standard time.

However, it fell down in 60 kms from the border; the plane's emergency location beacon went off the agency reported quoting sources.