The Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 crash sent the price of gold soaring on fears of more political turmoil in Russia and Ukraine as investors frantically sought safe-haven assets.

Based on initial reports by the Interfax news firm, the Boeing 777 carried 280 passengers and 15 staff on board and was on its way to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam when it went down. Starting 4:00 pm today, the price of gold surged to US$1,300 per ounce from the previous US$1,318, The Huffington Post detailed.

Like Us on Facebook

On Thursday, gold rallied 1.5 percent or about US$20 per ounce within just 40 minutes after news of the plane crash broke out, according to Hindustan Times.

The S&P 500 equities index slid down as investors got cautious and sought to avoid risky assets, Chicago-based senior commodities Phillip Streible explained.

Another factor that lifted gold prices was the news that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the army to start a major ground attack in Gaza to fight the Hamas militants.

The MH17 passenger jet was 20 miles (50 kilometers) from the Russian border before it started dropping and was later on found burning on Ukrainian ground, according to an anonymous source.

Ukraine interior ministry advisor Anton Gerashchenko told Bloomberg that Ukrainian rebels shot down the aircraft using a Buk ground-to-air missile.

This afternoon, the airline announced on Twitter that it lost contact of Flight MH17 which flew from Amsterdam. Malaysian Airlines said the last known location of the plane was "over Ukrainian airspace."

Malaysia's Prime Minister Mohammad Najib Tun Razak reacted with shock at the tragic crash and said they are now launching an investigation into the incident.

This is the second time this year that Malaysia Airlines experienced tragedy. Just this March, one of its planes mysteriously disappeared mid-flight with 227 passengers and 12 staff members.