Latest on Malaysia Airlines disaster

Flight paths over Eastern Ukraine have been closed until further notice after a Malaysia Airlines plane was shot down yesterday.

Air safety body, Eurocontrol, said the European Aviation Crisis Coordination Cell is being activated to coordinate the response to the impact of the airspace closure.

It said Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was flying at 33,000 feet when it disappeared from the radar.

"This route had been closed by the Ukrainian authorities from ground to flight level 320 but was open at the level at which the aircraft was flying," it said in a statement.

"Since the crash, the Ukrainian authorities have informed Eurocontrol of the closure of routes from the ground to unlimited in Eastern Ukraine (Dnipropetrovsk Flight Information Region)."

At least nine Britons were among those who were killed in the disaster.

Malaysia Airlines has confirmed there were also 189 Dutch, 27 Australians, 44 Malaysians (including the 15 crew and two infants), 12 Indonesians (including one infant), four Germans, four Belgians, three from the Philippines, one Canadian and one New Zealander. The nationalities of four passengers have still not been confirmed.

Up to 100 children are believed to have been on board.

Names of the victims are now starting to be reported, including two Newcastle United fans and a former BBC journalist Glenn Thomas, who worked for the World Health Organisation.

The fans’ website NUFC.com reported that John Alder and Liam Sweeney were on board the flight and were on their way to watch a friendly game in New Zealand.

Many of the victims were scientists, researchers and other delegates on their way to a key AIDS conference in Melbourne.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with all the affected passengers and crew and their family members," it said.

The UK Foreign Office has set up a helpline for those who think their relatives might have been involved in the crash.

Anyone concerned can text MH17 to 078600 10026, call 020 7008 1500 or fill out an online form at https://overseas-crisis.service.gov.uk.

The ‘black box’ flight recorders have been found by pro-Russian separatist forces amid unconfirmed reports that the plane was shot down by a medium range ground-to-air ‘Buk’ missile.

The separatists say they will hand the flight recorders over to flight investigators, but Malaysian and US officials have asked for the crash site not to be disturbed to avoid hindering the investigation.

The Ukranian military and pro-Russian rebels, who have been fighting in the area, have both blamed each other for the shooting.

A number of Ukrainian military aircraft have been shot down by missiles in recent weeks, with Ukraine accusing Russia’s military of supplying advanced missiles to the rebels.

In a press conference yesterday, US President Barack Obama said it seemed, at that stage, as if the downing of the jet was "a terrible tragedy".

Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron said he was "shocked and saddened" by the disaster and said officials from across Whitehall were meeting to establish the facts.

This morning, he tweeted that he had spoken to the Dutch PM Mark Rutte and told him "we grieve with him and the Dutch people".

Malaysia Airlines confirmed that it lost contact with Flight MH17 from Amsterdam 50km from the border with Russia.

Aviation expert Julian Bray told the BBC it was strange that a passenger plane was flying above "a war zone".

"Normally what they do [is] they fly around it – they declare it black and say ‘no we’re not going in there’ or they send their aircraft a little higher," he told BBC Radio 5.

But Malaysia Airlines said the flight route had been declared safe by the Civil Aviation Organisation.

"International Air Transportation Association has stated that the airspace the aircraft was traversing was not subject to restrictions," it said in a statement.

There were four other aircraft flying in the same area at the time of crash, but all continued their journeys safely.

Several airlines including Malaysia Airlines, Air France, Delta, Lufthansa and Wizz Air said they would now avoid Ukraine airspace.

British Airways said its flights were not using Ukrainian airspace, with the exception of its daily service between Heathrow and Kiev.

"We are keeping those services under review, but Kiev is several hundred kilometres from the incident site," it said. "The safety and security of our customers is always our top priority."

Families of the victims of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 posted messages of grief on social media saying they can’t stop crying.

Flight MH370 was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 on board on March 8 when it disappeared.