Key facts: Malaysia Airlines

A Malaysian passenger airliner with 295 people on board has crashed in Ukraine near the Russian border, according to officials.

The Boeing 777, flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was brought down by a Buk ground-to-air missle, Ukrainian interior ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko wrote on his Facebook page.

It was the second time that a Malaysia Airlines plane was lost in less than six months.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared in March while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. It has not been found, but the search has been concentrated in the Indian Ocean far west of Australia.

• Malaysia Airlines was founded on October 12 1937 under the name Malayan Airways Limited. The name was later changed to Malaysian Airlines Limited after Malaysia was formed in 1963.
• Its main base is Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
• Boeing aircraft make up the bulk of its commercial fleet, 14 of which are the Boeing 777, with Airbus craft being added for the first time in 2012.
• The airline has been described by experts as having an excellent safety record and has not had a fatal accident in nearly two decades.
• Boeing 777s are known for their excellent safety record and have only ever had two major accidents while flying. Its accident rate works out at one per eighteen-million flying hours.
• The last deadly accident came in 1995 when a Fokker 50 plane crashed, killing 35 people.
• The most deadly in the airline’s history was in 1977 when 100 people were killed in an apparent hijacking attempt.