The tragic victims of Flight MH17: First pictures of passengers who perished on Malaysia Airlines flight MH17

A British press officer who worked for the UN, a pioneering AIDS doctor, a Catholic nun from Australia - and 80 children were among the 298 victims killed when a passenger jet was shot out of the sky at 32,000ft by a surface-to-air missile yesterday.

This morning the identities of the passengers - all of whom are thought to have died - have begun to emerge. The victims include nine Britons, 173 Dutch and 27 Australians.

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. #Sosad

See pics below...

 

It has also been confirmed that NSW resident Sister Philomene Tiernan (centre), a teacher at eastern Sydney's Catholic girls' school in Kincoppal-Rose Bay, was also on the plane

Recently retired pathologist Roger Guard (left) and his wife Jill (right) from Toowoomba in Queensland, have also been identified from the MH17 flight

Mourners have laid flowers at the doorstep of the embassy to pay respect to victims

Passengers board their Malaysia Airlines flight at Bangkok airport as it prepares to depart for Kuala Lumpur early on July 18 

Pilot: Eugene Choo Jin Leong was flying MH17 when it was shot down. Malaysia Airlines has described him as one of their most trusted pilots