Updated | Russia faces growing criticism as more bodies recovered

Malaysian Airlines plane shot down in Ukraine

Officials at Kiev's Foreign Ministery have reported that rescuers have recovered as many as 181 bodies so far at the site of the Malaysian airliner crash in eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian and Russian authorities are blaming one another for the attack on the passenger plane, which saw a surface-to-air missile fired at the Boeing 777 over eastern Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been criticized after U.S. agencies said it was unclear whether the missile was launched by the Russian military or by pro-Russia separatist rebels, who officials say lack the expertise on their own to bring down a commercial airliner in midflight.

More pictures emerge of the Malaysia Airlines #MH17 crash site in Ukraine http://t.co/11qON4JeAO pic.twitter.com/9OmM8yZIF9

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) July 17, 2014

The Malaysian government released the nationalities of those onboard the flight during a press conference.

Netherlands 173, Malaysia 44, Australia 27, Indonesia 12 (including 1 infant), United Kingdom 9, Germany 4, Belgium 4, Philippines 3, Canada 1, New Zealand 1. There are still 20 unverified nationalities.

A Malaysian team of 62 people will be sent to investigate the crash site, said Malaysia Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai during the press confererence.

The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace. The plane was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

The plane crashed in the village of Hrabove just north of Torez, a city in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast, as it was approaching the Russian border.

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

The Maltese parliament held a one-minute silence in solidarity with the victims of the tragedy, at 9:05pm on a request by Opposition leader Simon Busuttil.

Malaysia Airlines flight #MH17 just before it disappeared over Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/xvDHsEQtkg

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) July 17, 2014

Locals filmed smoke coming from the site of the crash. Photos from the site of the crash show scattered pieces of broken fuselage and engine parts, as well as bodies and passports. Some of the wreckage fell close to houses in Hrabove. Initial reports and videos suggest that MH17 disintegrated and exploded upon impact due to the remaining jet fuel igniting.

The plane was carrying 280 passengers and 15 crew. A Ukrainian government adviser, Anton Gerashenko, has confirmed on Facebook that a plane carrying 295 people was shot down over a town in the east of the country.

Aviation expert Davide Cenciotti said that since the beginning of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, several aircraft, including large cargo planes such as the An-30 and an Il-76 and many Mi-24 Hind and Mi-8 Hip helicopters, were shot down by the local militia using portable surface-to-air missile systems.

The Ukrainian Interior Ministry claims the plane was hit by a surface-to-air missile fired from a Russian-built SA-11 Buk launcher. "With a semi-active radar homing guidance system and a 70kg warhead it may hit a large plane... and cause a catastrophic decompression," Cenciotti said. "The SA-11 is known to be operated by the Ukrainian armed forces; a launcher was also spotted in Eastern Ukraine lately."

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has suggested setting up a state commission jointly with experts of the International Civil Aviation Organization and other international agencies to investigate the crash of MH17, the presidential press service said. 

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk ordered to immediately set up a government commission to probe the crash. "The government insists that a comprehensive international investigation into the crash of an Armed Forces An-26 aircraft downed in Luhansk region on July 14, the crash of an Armed Forces Su-25 aircraft downed in Donetsk region on July 16, and the crash of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 [on July 17] be conducted with the participation of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation (EUROCONTROL)," the press service said.

In a statement, Nico Voorbach, President of the European Cockpit Association, said the route flown by the lost Malaysian aircraft was the most common route for flights from Europe to South East Asia. "ECA will follow the developments closely and calls upon European authorities to take immediate measures to secure all the flights overflying that region."

Malaysia Airlines tweeted that it "lost contact" with the plane. "The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace." Boeing tweeted that it was "aware of reports."

Mohd Najib Tun Razak, Malaysian prime minister, tweeted: "I am shocked by reports that an MH plane crashed. We are launching an immediate investigation."

Russia Today news service said that anti-Kiev forces had rejected any involvement in the incident, and that the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic claimed that its self-defence forces "simply don’t have such military equipment."

RT quoted RIA Novosti saying that Russia’s military said that none of its military planes was flying close to the Russia-Ukraine border on Thursday.

The news comes after a Malaysian Airlines plane carrying 239 people went missing in March while on a flight from the Malaysian capital to Beijing. The country's government said they believed all people onboard MH370 were dead after a lengthy search in the Indian Ocean. The plane, which had 227 passengers onboard, vanished on March 8 and despite a search costing in excess of £25million no trace of the airline has been found.