Twenty-seven Australians have lost their lives after their Malaysian Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was struck by a missile in Ukrainian airspace.

Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop confirmed 27 Australian passengers were on board when the flight went down.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the government is “working with the Dutch to confirm identities”.

“Once that’s happened we’ll be in contact with families and next of kin,” he said.

The names of the 15 crew members on board the flight has been revealed as family members gathered in Kuala Lumpur and Amsterdam airports, growing
increasingly restless waiting for official information.

157 people on board were from The Netherlands, 43 were from Malaysia, 12 from Indonesia, nine from the UK, four from Germany, four from Belgium, three from the Philippines and one from Canada.

Malaysian Airlines issued a media statement saying all of its European flights operated by the airline will be “taking alternative routes avoiding the usual route”.

“Malaysian Airlines are now in the process of notifying the next-of-kin of the passengers and crew”

MH17 was due to connect with MH129 arriving in Melbourne on Friday evening. Nine Victorians are said to have been on the flight along with nine from Queensland, seven from Western Australia, one from New South Wales and one from the ACT. About 100 on the flight were bound for Melbourne for the 2014 International AIDS conference.

Investigators are looking at Ukrainian separatists or Russian troops as the possible missile operators.

The flight crew did not make any distress signals before it crashed in East Ukraine.

Russian president Vladimir Putin pointed the finger at Ukraine for the tragedy.

“I want to point out that this tragedy wouldn’t have happened if there was peace in this land, or at least if fighting hadn’t resumed in the southwest of Ukraine,” Mr Putin said.

“And undoubtedly the state on who’s this territory this happened on is responsible for this awful tragedy.”

For people concerned about their loved ones, contact DFAT hotline 1300 555 135 for Australian passengers