THE HAGUE, July 18 -- Flight MH17, which crashed in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, carried a total of 298 persons, Malaysian Airlines stated on Friday.

"As opposed to the earlier statement, the flight was carrying a total number of 298 people, comprising 283 passengers including three infants of various nationalities and 15 crew of Malaysian nationality," the airline stated.

"Some of the nationalities of the passengers are yet to be determined," said the airline.

During a press conference on Thursday evening at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Huib Gorter, Regional Senior Vice President Europe Malaysia Airlines, spoke of a total of 295 victims, but apparently the three infants were not added to the total.

The current list of nationalities: the Netherlands (154), Malaysia (43, including 15 crew and 2 infants), Australia (27), Indonesia (12, including 1 infant), the United Kingdom (9), Germany (4), Belgium (4), the Philippines (3), Canada (1), unverified (41).

The Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, went down in eastern Ukraine, maybe hit by a rocket. With immediate effect the airline will avoid this usual route with forthcoming flights. According to Malaysia Airlines the usual flight route was earlier declared safe by the International Civil Aviation Organization.