The social media coverage of flight MH17, which US intelligence officials say was shot down over eastern Ukraine, began Tuesday afternoon with this tweet from the official Malaysia Airlines account:
“If it disappears, this is what it looks like,” and other powerful #MH17 photos
Malaysia Airlines has lost contact of MH17 from Amsterdam. The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace. More details to follow.
— Malaysia Airlines (@MAS) July 17, 2014 Shortly after, numerous photos — some authentic, many questionable — emerged on social media documenting the crash and its aftermath.
Chris York of Huffington Post UK shared this eery Facebook post, reportedly from an MH17 passenger who made a joking reference to the missing Malaysia Flight MH370 before taking off:
So a #MH17 passenger apparently posted to FB: "If it disappears, this is what it looks like" http://t.co/IZdR1Y6Mwv pic.twitter.com/5f8EO9bSdo
— Chris York (@ChrisDYork) July 17, 2014 Reuters tweeted the first images of the crash site:
First picture from site of Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane crash in the settlement of Grabovo Ukraine #MH17 pic.twitter.com/8ofR65uX1K
— Reuters Pictures (@reuterspictures) July 17, 2014 An armed pro-Russian separatist stands at a site of a #MH17 Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane crash Ukraine pic.twitter.com/jTF3bUN4dm
— Reuters Pictures (@reuterspictures) July 17, 2014 Throughout the day, LifeNews Russia has been tweeting screengrabs of its live coverage:
#LifeNews публикует первые фото с места катастрофы http://t.co/QNTnncGU8J pic.twitter.com/taOndFfAFr
— LIFENEWS (@lifenews_ru) July 17, 2014 Alleged passenger passports from the #MH17 crash site pic.twitter.com/9QFjIWvWB3 via @soutik
— Charlotte Meredith (@chmeredith) July 17, 2014 The Associated Press tweeted a video of the fiery crash:
RAW VIDEO: Fireball from Malaysia plane impact http://t.co/xNzQ7AvBo6
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 17, 2014 This amateur video is not yet confirmed, but has quickly spread on social media today:
A map from Flightradar24 shows international flights rerouting their paths to avoid all Ukrainian airspace after news of the MH17 crash:
MAP: Intl passenger flights avoiding #Ukraine airspace following #MH17 #MalaysiaAirlines crash http://t.co/W3FuCzbRwd pic.twitter.com/WxYJ6FFedr
— RT (@RT_com) July 17, 2014 Amidst all the chaos, New York Times reporter Thomas Erdbrink has been live tweeting from the Amsterdam airport where the victims’ families have been waiting for answers:
MH17 victim relatives on their way to busses, to a hotel where they will be briefed further. pic.twitter.com/snuTqBRZta
— Thomas Erdbrink (@ThomasErdbrink) July 17, 2014 And Mashable executive editor Jim Roberts shared a photo (via Reuters) of a touching memorial to the victims of MH17 outside the Dutch embassy in Kyiv:
At Dutch embassy in #Kyiv, a memorial to victims of #MH17. @reuters photo http://t.co/20tvCAEmCU pic.twitter.com/4BSZI7blkW
— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) July 17, 2014 See More:
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