MH17 victim about to start new life in WA

One of the victims of the MH17 crash was a 24-year-old German woman about to start a new life in Western Australia.

Fatima Dyczynski spent a year at Perth's John XXIII College in Year 11 and dreamed of returning to Australia, Perth Now reports.

An aerospace engineer and tech start-up founder, Ms Dyczynski was about to start an internship with IBM.

Her parents, who were waiting for her at Perth Airport, spoke to her over Skype just moments before she boarded the aircraft.

"At this moment we just don’t know what to do," her mother Angela said.

"We are lost."

The crash has killed 298 people including 28 Australians.

In other major developments from the story: 

• US tracking missile that brought down MH17: US authorities are using satellites to follow missile that shot Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 down over Ukraine.

• Rebel sites suggest insurgents shot down plane by mistake: The social media site attributed to a top Ukrainian rebel commander said insurgents had shot down an army transporter at the location where a Malaysia Airlines plane crashed.

• Nine Queenslanders among crash dead:  Premier Campbell Newman 'shocked, outraged, dismayed and deeply saddened' as state faces a dark day.

• CRASH SCENE: Chilling pictures of smoking wreckage

• Twenty-eight Australians on board MH17: Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has confirmed 28 Australians were killed on Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine.