CRI听力:One American Confirmed Dead in Flight MH17 Tragedy

US President Obama has announced to the public that one US citizen was killed in Thursday's Malaysia Airlines plane crash and called for immediate cease fire in Ukraine.

CRI's Washington correspondent He Fei has more.

Reporter: Reuters once reported that 23 Americans were on Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, but US President Obama says that officials now believe there was only one American citizen being killed in the tragedy.

"We know at least one American citizen, Quinn Lucas Schansman was killed."

Quinn Lucas Schansman held dual citizenship in the US and the Netherlands. The young man was reportedly headed for a family vacation in Malaysia when he boarded the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

Obama describes it as a global tragedy. And he calls for international investigation and immediate cease fire in Ukraine.

"The UN security council has endorsed this investigation and we will hold all of its members including Russia do their work. In order to facilitate their investigation, Russia, pro-Russia separatists and Ukraine must adhere to immediate ceasefire. I think that this certainly will be a wake up call for Europe and the world that there are consequences to an escalating conflict in the eastern Ukraine."

Although Obama did say that they don't know exactly what had happened on site, the US President has pinned the blame for the downing of the passenger jet on separatist forces supported by Russia.

"That's not an accident. That is happening because of Russian support. A group of separatists can't shoot down military transport planes or they claim shoot down fighter jets without sophisticated equipment and sophisticated training and that is coming from Russia."

The US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power tells the UN Security Council that based on the current information, the US assesses MH 17 was likely downed by a surface-to-air missile, an SA-11, operated from a separatist-held location in eastern Ukraine.

While on the Russian side, President Vladimir Putin argues that the government over whose territory it occurred should be held responsible for the terrible tragedy.

The tragedy killed 298 people from nearly a dozen nations, including vacationers, students and a large contingent of scientists. At least 189 of the dead were from the Netherlands.

For CRI, I'm He Fei.