Malaysian Airlines plane crashes in Ukraine (with video)

A Ukrainian official said a passenger plane carrying 295 people was shot down Thursday over a town in eastern Ukraine. Malaysia Airlines tweeted that it lost contact with one of its flights over Ukrainian airspace.

As plumes of black smoke rose up near a rebel-held village of Grabovo in eastern Ukraine, an Associated Press journalist counted at least 22 bodies at the crash site 40 kilometres from the Russian border.

The plane appeared to have broken up before impact and the burning wreckage — which included body parts and the belongings of passengers — was scattered over a wide area. The White House said officials were working to confirm a report that 23 U.S. citizens were among the dead.

In this photo taken with a mobile phone provided by Andrei Kashtanov, smoke rises from where a Malaysia Airlines commercial plane crashed in eastern Ukraine, Thursday, July 17, 2014. Malaysia Airlines has said 295 people were aboard the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. (AP Photo/Andrei Kashtanov)

A picture taken on July 17, 2014 shows the wreckages of the malaysian airliner carrying 295 people from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur after it crashed, near the town of Shaktarsk, in rebel-held east Ukraine. AFP PHOTO/DOMINIQUE FAGET

The head of Ukraine’s air traffic control agency said Thursday that the crew of the Malaysia Airlines jet that crashed in the separatist east had reported no problems during flight. AFP PHOTO/DOMINIQUE FAGET

Smoke rises up at a crash site of a passenger plane, near the village of Grabovo, Ukraine, Thursday. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)

Luggage is pictured on the site of the crash. AFP PHOTO/DOMINIQUE FAGET

Wreckage of flight MH17. AFP PHOTO/DOMINIQUE FAGET

Wreckage of flight MH17. AFP PHOTO/DOMINIQUE FAGET

Wreckage of flight MH17. AFP PHOTO/DOMINIQUE FAGET

A man wearing military fatigues stands next to the wreckages of the malaysian airliner carrying 295 people from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur after it crashed, near the town of Shaktarsk, in rebel-held east Ukraine. DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP/Getty Images

A picture taken near the town of Shaktarsk, in rebel-held east Ukraine, on July 17, 2014 shows the wreckages of the Malaysian airliner carrying 295 people from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur after it crashed. Malaysia Airlines said today it had “lost contact” with one of its passenger planes carrying 295 people over eastern Ukraine, amid speculation it had been shot down. AFP PHOTO / ITAR-TASS /ZURAB DZHAVAKHADZE