As many as 100 of those killed on a Malaysia Airlines plane that crashed in Ukraine were delegates heading to Australia for a global AIDS conference, reports said Friday.
The Australian broadsheet and the Sydney Morning Herald both said that more than one-third of the nearly 300 who died were AIDS researchers, health workers and activists. The reports could not be confirmed.
The Malaysian airliner apparently shot down over rebel-held eastern Ukraine was flying over airspace that a number of other Asian carriers had already abandoned months ago because of security concerns.
South Korea´s two main airlines, Korean Air and Asiana, as well as Australia´s Qantas and Taiwan´s China Airlines said they had all re-routed flights from as early as the beginning of March when Russian troops moved into Crimea.
"We stopped flying over Ukraine because of safety concerns," Asiana spokeswoman Lee Hyo-Min said.
Korean Air moved its flight paths 250 kilometres (160 miles) south of Ukraine from March 3 "due to the political unrest in the region", an official for the carrier told AFP.A Qantas spokeswoman said its London to Dubai service used to fly over Ukraine, but the route was changed "several months ago", while Taiwan´s China Airlines diverted its flights from April 3.Quizzed as to why Malaysia Airlines had not taken similar precautions, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said international air authorities had deemed the flight path secure.
’Safe´ flight path?’
"The aircraft´s flight route was declared safe by the International Civil Aviation Organization. And (the) International Air Transportation Association has stated that the airspace the aircraft was traversing was not subject to restrictions," he said.
Re-routing would have involved a longer flight-time and therefore higher fuel costs.
Singapore Airlines said in a statement that it had been using Ukrainian airspace but had "re-routed all our flights" to alternative corridors away from the region.
It was not immediately clear when the route change was put into affect.Hong Kong´s Cathay Pacific said it had not been using Ukrainian airspace "for quite some time" and Pakistan International Airlines said it had re-routed "some time ago."
According to the European flight safety body Eurocontrol, the Ukrainian authorities declared the east of the country a no-fly zone shortly after the Malaysian airliner went down with 298 people on board.
European and US airlines re-routed their flights as Kiev said flight MH17 was shot down in a "terrorist" attack and a US official said intelligence analysts "strongly believe" it was downed by a surface-to-air missile.
Eurocontrol said the doomed plane was flying at a level known as "330", or approximately 10,000 metres or 33,000 feet, when it disappeared from radar screens.
The route itself had been closed to level "320" but was cleared for those flying at the Malaysian plane´s altitude.
The Dutch prime minister on Thursday ordered that flags fly at half mast at government buildings across the country after the death of at least 154 of his country's citizens in what he said might be the worst air disaster in the Netherlands' history.
The Dutch were among 295 passengers and crew, including three infants, aboard a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that crashed while crossing above the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine where pro-Russian rebels are fighting forces controlled by the government in the capital Kiev.
Speaking at Schiphol Airport after interrupting his holiday in southern Germany on news of the crash, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said it was a "black day" for the Netherlands.
"The whole of the Netherlands is in mourning," he said. "This beautiful summer day has ended in the blackest possible way."
Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was operating as a code-share flight with the Dutch flagship carrier KLM, was also carrying at least 27 Australians, 23 Malaysians, 11 Indonesians, six Britons, four Germans, four Belgians, three Filipinos and one Canadian.
The 15 flight crew - two captains, two flight officers and 11 cabin crew — were all Malaysian citizens. The nationalities of a further 47 were as yet unknown.
Malaysia Airlines' Europe vice president Huib Gorter told reporters that relatives would be provided with support if they requested it and could be flown from Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur to Kiev if they so wished.
"You cannot imagine what's happening to these people right now," he said. "They are our main concern."
