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Malaysia Airlines Loses Contact With Plane Over Ukraine

Malaysia Airlines said Thursday that it has lost contact with a passenger jet over Ukraine.

"Malaysia Airlines has lost contact of MH17 from Amsterdam," the airline says in a tweet. "The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace. More details to follow."

The Interfax news agency reported that the Boeing 777 had crashed in eastern Ukraine. It cited a source in the aviation industry and said the aircraft is believed to have been carrying 280 passengers and a crew of 15. Reports of a crash have not been confirmed.

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Flight 17 departed Amsterdam at 12:14 p.m. local time and was scheduled to land in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia on Friday morning, according to the FlightAware site. Data on the site suggest the flight normally travels at an altitude of 33,000 feet, or some 6 miles in the air.

Details are only starting to emerge about the incident. We'll update this post as news allows.

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