A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 with 295 people on board crashed near the Russian border today, prompting an immediate reaction from travelers, industry voices, and governments around the world. Reports, as they tend to be in the immediate aftermath of a tragedy were conflicting, often contradictory. Reaction on Twitter varied from wild speculation to conspiracy theories to genuine expressions of condolensces.
And among the chatter to Tweets, it was also a way for officials to get the word out as best they could.
Foreign Ministry in Kiev said Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lampur had been "shot down" by the Russian Buk missile system.
Ukrainian authorities told U.S. Embassy officials that everyone on board was "believed dead" after scanning a 10-mile stretch near the town of Shakhtars'k in eastern Ukraine.
Twitter reaction followed from those at almost all levels of the travel industry.
Here is what some of the airlines and industry professionals are saying.
Malaysia Airlines released a media statement at 12:43 p.m. ET:
CNN Breaking News reported that France ordered its airlines to steer clear of Ukraine's airspace for now:
The UK's Department for Transport added:
Qatar Airways tweeted:
Thai Airlines added:
Toronto's CP24 tweeted a response from Boeing:
Iberia tweeted:
Airlines group IATA believes MH17 wasn't flying in restricted airspace, per Reuters Top News:
Delta will also not be routing flights through the airspace, according to NBC Nightly News:
One user tweeter from the the FlightRadar24 app:
No Malaysia Airlines flights had been cancelled as of this writing, per Malaysia news channel Astro AWANI:
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