At least nine Britons were on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, the airline has said - including a worker from the World Health Organisation.
Some 298 people were on the Boeing 777, which crashed in eastern Ukraine after taking off from Amsterdam for Kuala Lumpur.
Briton Glenn Thomas, 49, has been confirmed to be among the dead.
PM David Cameron is to chair a meeting of the government's Cobra emergency committee to discuss the situation.
Mr Thomas, a media officer at the World Health Organisation (WHO) and former BBC journalist, had been travelling to Australia to attend an international conference on Aids.
Confirming his death, WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said: "For the time being we would like to give his family time to grieve.
"We have lost a wonderful person and a great professional. Our hearts are broken. We are all in shock."
Malaysia Airlines has said some passengers' nationalities are yet to be determined.
The UK Foreign Office has also set up a helpline on 020 7008 1500, while anyone concerned could also text MH17 to +44 7860010026, or fill in an online form at https://overseas-crisis.service.gov.uk.
Passenger dataFlight MH17 came down between Krasni Luch, in Luhansk region, and Shakhtarsk in the neighbouring region of Donetsk - 50km from the Russia-Ukraine border.
Both sides in Ukraine's conflict have accused each other of shooting down the plane with a missile.
A statement on the Malaysia Airlines website said nine of the passengers were from the UK, with 41 nationalities listed as "unverified".
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said he was "deeply shocked" by the "appalling incident" and did not want to speculate on the causes.
The UN Security Council will also meet to discuss the incident at 15:00 BST.
Mr Cameron said Whitehall officials had met on Thursday evening to discuss the incident and establish the facts.
He tweeted the crash had left him "shocked and saddened".
Mr Hammond told a press conference: "We are currently working through passenger data, cross-checking it and referencing it to establish exactly the numbers and identifies of those British nationals and as soon as we have further information we will be in contact with the families."
He also called for a UN-led international investigation.
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Huib Gorter, Malaysia Airlines: "Our main priority is to look after those suffering"
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said "no stone will be left unturned" in the investigation into what happened.
Mr Najib said the passengers and crew had come from many different countries.
He added: "Today, regardless of nationality, we are all united in grief."
Malaysia Airlines said that of the passengers' nationalities identified so far, 154 were Dutch, 27 were Australian and 45 were Malaysian, including 15 crew.
As well as nine from the UK, there were passengers from Indonesia, Germany, Belgium, the Philippines and Canada, he added.
Avoiding Ukraine airspaceUkraine's president has called the loss of the plane an "act of terrorism" as the separatist rebels denied shooting it down.
US President Barack Obama, who spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the crash earlier, said it was a "terrible tragedy" and that US officials were trying to establish if any Americans had been on board.
Meanwhile, leading airlines have announced they are now avoiding airspace surrounding eastern Ukraine.
The Department for Transport said flights that were already airborne were being routed around the area.
British Airways said the safety and security of its customers was its top priority.
It added: "Our flights are not using Ukrainian airspace, with the exception of our once a day service between Heathrow and Kiev.
"We are keeping those services under review, but Kiev is several hundred kilometres from the incident site."
Virgin Atlantic said it was re-routing "a small number of flights".
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