HANOI, July 18. /ITAR-TASS/. Malaysia’s Foreign Ministry cooperates closely with Foreign Ministries of Russia and Ukraine to clarify circumstances surrounding the shooting down of a Malaysian airliner with 298 people on board over eastern Ukraine, says Deputy Foreign Minister Hamzah Zainuddin.

“We interact closely with governments of both countries to obtain all the necessary information,” Zainuddin was quoted as saying on Friday by the country's national news agency Bernama. “The information Malaysia has needs further consideration.”

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak Malaysia said ealier on Firday the country was sensing a team of high-ranking officials to Kiev to investigate the circumstances of the crash.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was downed near Ukraine’s embattled eastern Donetsk Region on Thursday night, killing all 298 people on board.

The plane crashed about 40 kilometres from the border with Russia near the regional capital of Donetsk. Reuters reported most of the dead, 173 people, were Dutch. Forty-four were Malaysian, 27 Australian, 12 Indonesian, nine British, four German, four Belgian, three Filipino and one each from Canada, New Zealand and Romania. All 15 crew were Malaysian. Nationalities of the others aboard were unclear.