KIEV, July 18 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine's Foreign Ministry has launched an emergency response center to address the needs of the relatives of the Malaysian plane crash victims, the ministry announced on Friday.
"Ukraine's Foreign Ministry has introduced a crisis center that would work within 24 hours in order to process the addresses of the relatives of the killed passengers and to coordinate the corresponding work of the diplomatic institutions of foreign states, accredited in Ukraine," the ministry said in a statement.
A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed near the town of Torez in the Donetsk Region on Thursday, causing death of all the 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board.
Flight controllers reported that the MH17 flight aircraft disappeared from radar screens while flying at an altitude of about 10,000 meters (33,000 feet).
Witnesses told RIA Novosti crash debris covered an area of about 1 square kilometer, and at least several dozen bodies were found scattered around the crash site.
Kiev blamed independence supporters of the Donetsk Region for downing the passenger plane with a surface-to-air missile. Militia forces said they had no missile systems that could hit a target flying at an altitude of 10,000 meters.
Rescue workers have allegedly recovered two black boxes from the flight.
Ukrainian authorities and Malaysia Airlines are investigating the incident.
