MH17 An Air India plane was not on the same flight path as the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines aircraft over the Ukrainian airspace when it crashed, believed to have been shot down, the Press Trust of India ( PTI ) reported a senior airlines official as saying yesterday.

"We have stopped flying over the conflict zone to the north of Ukraine for the past three months. After the fresh DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) directive (two days ago), we have completely stopped operating in Ukrainian airspace," the official, who requested anonymity, had said.

According to PTI , he said that the airspace over the Commonwealth of Independent States nation was divided into five separate flight zones and there were different flight corridors for flights going on different directions.

While the ill-fated MH17 was going from west to east, the Air India plane was going in the opposite direction, he said, according to the report.

There have been reports stating that Air India's Dreamliner flying from Delhi to Birmingham was just 25km from MH17.

The reports said that the Air India pilots were asked to establish contacts with MH17 when it stopped responding to Ukrainian air traffic controller's call.

The plane with 298 passengers and crew on board was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur last Thursday and due to land at the KL International Airport at 6.10am on Friday.

- Bernama