- Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over territory held by Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine
- Body parts and wreckage from flight, headed from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, spread over nine-mile area
- Nine Britons and 173 Dutch have been confirmed dead, along with 27 Australians and 44 Malaysians
- Three Australian children - Mo, Evie and Otis Maslin, aged between eight and 12 - were among those killed
- An entire Indonesian family - including a five-year-old boy and a three-year-old girl, also died in the attack
- Glenn Thomas, 49, a World Health Organisation press officer originally from Blackpool, was killed too
- Newcastle United fans John Alder and Liam Sweeney, were named, along with Leeds University student Richard Mayne
- As many as 100 of the victims are thought to have been Aids experts on their way to a conference in Melbourne
Eighty children were among the victims killed when a passenger jet was shot out of the sky at 32,000ft by a surface-to-air missile yesterday.
Two Indonesians aged just three and five who were flying with their parents, as well as three Australian children headed home with their grandfather, numbered among the 298 dead after Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over rebel-held Ukraine yesterday.
Also on board the doomed flight were around 100 Aids experts on their way to an international conference, a Catholic nun from Australia and a British university student.
The nationalities of more victims were confirmed today - with the toll now including 173 Dutch, 44 Malaysians, 27 Australians, 12 Indonesians and nine Britons. Twenty passengers are yet to be verified.
The Boeing 777 aircraft was travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was hit by a sophisticated surface-to-air missile over territory near Donetsk held by pro-Russian rebels who the Ukrainian government says are backed by the Kremlin. Russian President Vladimir Putin has blamed Ukraine for the attack.
The plane was shot down in an 'act of terrorism', killing all 298 passengers and crew on board, including three Australian children, aged between eight and 12, who were travelling with their grandfather.
The family had been on holiday and the children’s parents had remained in Amsterdam for a few extra days, but Mr Norris took his grandchildren on MH17 to get them back to Australia in time for school, Australian broadcasters reported.
Security forces from Ukraine claim to have intercepted two phone conversations in which in which pro-Russian separatists seem to celebrate hitting the plane. In the wake of the aviation disaster tributes have poured in for the victims, who include families and renowned researchers.
The tragedy has sparked outrage across the globe, with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk leading calls on world powers to support his government in bringing to justice 'those b****** who committed this international crime' after a passenger plane was shot down over his country.
Nick Norris, from Perth, Australia, was flying on the service with his grandchildren Mo, 12, Evie, 10, and Otis Maslin, eight, when it was shot down at around 16.00 BST yesterday.
Mr Norris’s son Brack, 24, paid tribute to his father, niece and nephews. ‘I’m a bit dizzy right now,’ he told MailOnline in Australia.
The family had been on holiday and the children’s parents had remained in Amsterdam for a few extra days, but Mr Norris took his grandchildren on MH17 to get them back to Australia in time for school, Australian broadcasters reported.
Mr Norris, the managing director of management consulting firm Collaborative Systemic Change Pty Ltd, is survived by his son Brack, who is the company's marketing manager, and daughter Kirstin, a marine engineer with the Royal Australian Navy. He was a well-known member of the South Perth Yacht Club.
The identities of British victims also emerged today, including two Newcastle United fans on their way to see the club play in New Zealand, and a student from Leeds University.
Glenn Thomas, a 49-year-old UN worker from Blackpool, was on board the flight. Mr Thomas was a media relations co-ordinator for the World Health Organisation, an agency of the United Nations agency, and had previously worked as a journalist for the BBC
Malaysia Airlines has confirmed that 173 Dutch, 44 Malaysian (including 15 crew and two infants), 12 Indonesian, nine British, four German, three Filipino, and one Canadian citizen were also on the plane.
Mr Thomas grew up in Blackpool and worked as a journalist in the Lancashire seaside resort in the early 1990s, where his twin sister Tracey Withers still lives. The Blackpool Gazette reported that he moved to Geneva, Switzerland, a decade ago to start working for the WHO. He was said to have posted a status update shortly before starting his journey, which was supposed to end in Melbourne.
He caught a place from Geneva to Amsterdam, and boarded the doomed service from the Dutch capital to Kuala Lumpur, where he would have boarded a connecting flight. Mr Thomas lived in Geneva with his partner who lived in Geneva with his partner Claudio-Manoel Villaca-Vanetta, but is said to have kept up his ties to Blackpool.
Today one of his nephews said the family was 'totally torn up' by his death. The relative, a son of Mr Thomas's sister Tracey and her husband Mark, said his parents were on holiday in Spain when they heard the news. He said: 'She is on her way home; she is totally torn up. Like any twins they are very close-one of them feels everything the other does.She must have known in her mind something terrible was going on.'
Tributes were paid to Mr Thomas today, whom colleagues described as 'a wonderful personal and a great professional'. WHO spokesman Fadela Chaib said: ‘I can confirm he was on the flight travelling to Australia to attend the Aids conference in Australia.
‘For the time being we would like to give his family time to grieve. We have lost a wonderful person and a great professional. Our hearts are broken. We are all in shock.’
A Leeds university student has also been named as one of the British nationals who died when flight MH17 crashed in eastern Ukraine. Richard Mayne, 20, was originally from Leicester where he lived with his parents.
He also leaves behind his brothers Thomas, 24, and William, 19, and sister Scarlett, who lives in Hampshire. Mr Mayne was studying maths and finance at the university.
Speaking from the family home today, his father Simon, 53, said: 'He was on his way to Perth. When we were looking at flights together, there was this one that stopped in Amsterdam and we thought it would be perfect.
'I took him to the airport at 3am myself, to fly to Amsterdam. When I first saw it on the news, my heart dropped. I just thought, oh god, oh god – I couldn't believe it. We were hoping and praying he had fallen asleep at Amsterdam and missed his flight.
'You think you've got problems and them something like this happens and it all just takes over. I can't even bring myself to look at a photograph of him. We are beyond devastated. It is such a beautiful sunny day but our lives have been torn apart.'
Today fears emerged that two Newcastle United fans were among the Britons killed. A fan site for the football club posted that two people were aboard MH17 on their way to New Zealand, where the team is playing in a pre-season tour.
One of the men is thought to be fan John Alder, who was in his 60s. The loyal supporter is known to other fans as The Undertaker because of his tradition of wearing a suit to every game.
He is thought only to have missed a single match since he started attending in 1973, and follows the team around the world for their away games.
It is believed John was travelling to the game with another 28-year-old fan, believed to be Liam Sweeney, from Newcastle.
Before the flight John had made his way from Amsterdam, then boarded the flight destined for Kuala Lumpur.
Tributes have started to pour in for the former BT worker, who was also known for his mullet-style haircut.
Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew said today that his players were 'deeply shocked and saddened' at the deaths of two such 'dedicated' fans.
The club said both men were familiar faces at every United away game and attended reserve and academy matches as well as first-team games.
The airline has now said that all European flights operated by Malaysia Airlines will now be taking alternative routes, avoiding the usual route over Ukraine.
A real estate agent, from Victoria, Australia, his wife, a Perth management consultant, a Melbourne university student and a Sydney Catholic nun are among the Australian dead on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 that was shot down on the Russian-Ukraine border.
A Catholic nun from Sydney was also on board the flight. Sister Philomena, a teacher at girls' high school Kincoppal-Rose Bay, was the relative of school students at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in North Sydney.
It has been confirmed that Malaysian student Elaine Teoh, who had been studying at Melbourne University, was also on the flight, Channel Nine reported.
Recently retired pathologist Roger Guard and his wife Jill from Toowoomba in Queensland, have also been identified from the MH17 flight.
Tawoomba's Mayor Paul Antonio said the entire Darling Down’s community would be shaken by the tragic news, reported the Brisbane Times.
Dr Guard was well regarded in the medical community, acting as the director within the Pathology Queensland laboratory in Toowoomba Hospital. He also helped perform autopsies on the victims of the Queensland flood and was well known for organising local marathon events in his local community for the Toowoomba Road Runner fitness group.
A Victorian couple Frankie Davison and her husband Liam were on MH17. Mrs Davison was a teacher at Toorak College Community, south-east of Melbourne.
'Toorak College Community is saddened by the loss of much loved teacher Frankie Davison and her husband Liam who were on the Malaysia Airlines flight that was brought down over Ukraine, this morning,' said a statement on the college Facebook page.
'Our hearts and sympathy goes out to their children Milly and Sam, and family. We are devastated by the news of this tragedy.'
Victorian real estate agent, Albert Rizk, and his wife Marie also died in the crash.
They had been in Europe on holidays for several weeks. They had been travelling with family friends who took an earlier flight and were waiting for the Rizks to arrive home in Sunbury, Victoria, where they were high-profile members of a tight-knit community.
Mr Rizk was a director of Raine & Horne in Sunbury.
President of the Sunbury Football Club Phil Lithgow said Mr Rizk was a sponsor of the AFL club as well as an enthusiastic community worker and his wife worked in the club canteen.
The couple's son James, who is also a real estate agent, plays football for the Sunbury club.
'He is a very good footballer and Albert and Marie were just lovely people,' Mr Lithgow told Daily Mail Australia.
'It is a shock to us all, Albert was just such a community person in the area.'
A spokesman for The University of Melbourne released a statement saying they were 'saddened' to hear reports about one of their students.
'Ms Teoh graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Commerce in 2008,' the spokesman said.
'Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this time.'
The spokesman added that the university was distressed to learn that HIV and Aids researchers were on the flight.
'This is a terrible loss to the global research community at a time when we were getting ready to welcome them to the World Aids Conference in Melbourne to share the latest advances in the field,' the spokesman said.
'The impact of this devastating loss will no doubt be felt among the global research community for years to come.'
There are unconfirmed reports that two Shell company employees may have been aboard MH17 returning from a trip to Shell's Amsterdam head office.
'We are aware of the incident involving the Malaysia Airlines plane and we’re checking to see if any colleagues were on board,' a Shell Australia spokesman said.
Victorian Premier Denis Napthine confirmed MH17 was to connect with MH129 arriving in Melbourne this evening.
'It is with deep regret that I can now confirm nine Australian nationals from Victoria are among those who have been killed in the MH17 tragedy,' he said.
'This is a sad and tragic day, not just for Victorians, but for all people and all nations. The shooting down of a passenger aircraft full of innocent civilians is an unspeakable act that will forever leave a dark stain on our history.'
Queensland Premier Campbell Newman says it is believed nine people on board were Queenslanders. Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett said seven people from WA had been on board. A spokeswoman for the ACT Chief Minister confirmed one Canberran was on the flight.
NSW Premier Mike Baird said: 'Sadly, we have been advised that one person from NSW was on board the flight and I extend my sympathies and offer my support to their family and friends.'
Also among the passengers were medical experts travelling to Melbourne for the International Aids Conference that was to officially begin tomorrow. At least 100 passengers on board MH17 were bound for the conference, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Leading HIV researchers, including former president of the International Aids Society Joep Lange, were en route to the 20th International Aids Conference, AIDS2014, which was to begin this weekend.
Daily Mail Australia has confirmed Aids lobbyist Pim de Kuijer and other researchers Martine de Schutter and Lucie van Mens were on the flight, along with World Health Organisation media relations coordinator Glenn Thomas.
Dutch officials have confirmed 27 Australians were on board, but the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade warned that number could climb higher because the nationalities of all those on board are not yet known.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he extended his most profound condolences to the families of Australian victims.
'All I can say is that this would be the grimmest of grim mornings for the family and the loved ones of Australians on that plane,' he told The Today Show.
'Our heart goes out to them, our prayers are with them and whatever assistance we humanly can offer we will because Australians stick by each other in times of trouble.'
Mr Abbott added: 'If it has been brought down by a missile that is an unspeakable crime and we should be filled with revulsion against anything that would do something horrible to innocent people.
UKRAINE AND RUSSIA BLAME EACH OTHER FOR THE ATTACK
Russian President Vladimir Putin has blamed Ukraine for the tragedy that claimed the lives of all 298 people on board, including around 100 children - but didn't deny Russian-backed separatists were to blame for shooting it out of the sky.
Ukrainian authorities laid the blame for the attack on the rebels by denying any responsibility for the missile launch, with President Petro Poroshenko called the downing an act of terrorism as he called for an international investigation into the crash.
TV pictures from the scene showed a pall of smoke billowing into the sky near Donetsk, apparently from the stricken flight MH17.
Witnesses say body parts are scattered over a distance of 15km, suggesting the plane broke up in mid-air.
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