MH17: Other aircraft have previously been shot down

The Internet is abuzz yet again, no thanks to the recent incident of Malaysia Airline (MAS) MH17 -- which was shot down near the Russian-Ukrainian border.

The Boeing 777-200ER was shot down between Ukrainian government and pro-Russian by separatist rebels.

Historically, the separatists have brought down a number of Ukrainian military aircraft using the Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS), Business Insider Malaysia reported.

An Ukrainian transport plane was shot down on June 13 which was carrying 40 paratroopers and nine crew members.

The portal reported that at least 10 other Ukrainian aircraft which were flying significantly lower than a Boeing 777 have been shot down since the rebels began using MANPADS.

According to a count kept by military aviation expert David Candiotti, among the aircraft shot down previously were five Mi-24 Hinds, two Mi-8 helicopters, one An-2, one An-30 and the Ukrainian transport plane, it was reported.

Ukrainian Interior Minister adviser Anton Gerashchenko, the Boeing 777 aircraft was hit by a missile known as the vehicle-mounted Russian-built Buk missile system. The aircraft went down near the eastern town of Torez.

Meanwhile, MH17 was not the only commercial flight shot down in history, the Associated Press reported:

In 1978, Korean Airlines Flight 902 en route from Paris to Seoul strayed over the Soviet Union and was shot at by an interceptor aircraft forcing the pilots to perform an emergency landing at night on a frozen lake.

Two out of the 97 passengers were killed in hostile fire.

In 1983, Korean Airlines Flight 902 was shot down by at least one Soviet air-to-air missile. All 269 passengers and crew were killed.

Five years later, Iran Air Flight 655 was shot down by a surface to air missile from the American naval vessel U.S.S Vincennes killing all 290 passengers and crew on-board.