Bristol man formally named among Malaysia Airline MH17 flight victims

Ben Pocock was a student at Loughborough University and was set to study in Australia for six months

A student from Bristol has been formally identified as among the victims of the Malaysian Airlines MH17 air crash in Ukraine, his family said.

Ben Pocock's family confirmed his death in a statement and thanked people for their messages of support and tributes.

The 20-year-old from Keynsham was studying for an international business degree at Loughborough University.

The Boeing 777 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur came down near Shakhtarsk in July, killing all 298 people on board.

Travelling to Australia

The family statement read: "We can confirm that Ben was a victim of the disaster.

"We would like to thank all those who have sent us messages of support and tributes to Ben, and we would ask to be allowed to grieve and come to terms with our loss."

Mr Pocock had just completed the second year of his degree and his family said he was travelling to Perth in Australia for six months.

He was set to begin a professional placement and study at the University of Western Australia as part of the third year of his course.

Flight MH17 came down 50km from the Russia-Ukraine border.

The two sides in Ukraine's civil conflict have accused each other of shooting the jet down with a missile.

Malaysian Airlines said of the passengers' nationalities identified so far, 193 were Dutch, 43 were Malaysian, including 15 crew, and 27 were Australian.

As well as 10 from the UK, passengers from Indonesia, Germany, Belgium, the Philippines and Canada were all killed.