Rescue workers, policemen and even off-duty coal miners are combing the sprawling crash site in eastern Ukraine, reports AP. 

They are looking for the bodies of the 298 people who were on board of the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 which crashed, reportedly hit by a ground-to-air missile Buk.

This is the second accident in five months with a Malaysia Airlines plane, which never reached its destination.

The cause of Thursday's crash was not immediately clear but the area has seen heavy fighting recently between government troops and pro-Russia separatists, with the rebels bragging about shooting down two Ukrainian military jets in the region Wednesday, just a day earlier.

Ukraine accused the rebels of shooting down the Malaysia Airlines plane. The rebels denied it. Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed Ukraine for the downing, saying it was responsible for the unrest in its Russian-speaking eastern regions — but did not accuse Ukraine of shooting the plane down and not address the key question of whether Russia itself gave the rebels such a powerful missile.

Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of supporting the rebels, a charge that Moscow denies.

American intelligence authorities said a surface-to-air missile brought the plane down but were still working on who fired it.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called it an "act of terrorism" and demanded an international investigation. He insisted his forces did not shoot down the plane.