The train transporting the remains of victims from the crashed Malaysia Airlines MH17 flight departs from the railway station in the eastern Ukrainian town of Torez, Donetsk regionReuters
Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine have handed over the two flight recorders of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which crashed in Donetsk region five days ago, and also allowed the train carrying the victims' bodies to leave the area.
Malaysian officials have taken possession of the black boxes, which may contain vital information regarding the last minutes of the doomed airliner.
Rebel leader Alexander Borodai gave the flight recorders to a Malaysian delegation led by National Security Council member Colonel Mohamed Shukri at a signing ceremony in Donetsk.
"I would like to convey our sincere appreciation to Borodai for giving us the opportunity and entertaining our special request to hand over the two black boxes to Malaysia," Shukri told reporters.
The anti-Ukrainian rebels' action came hours after the UN Security Council passed a unanimous resolution calling for giving international monitors immediate access to the crash site.
The flight recorders will reveal the exact time the plane went down and its location. Malaysian authorities said the recorders appear to be in good condition.
"There is not much damage to the outer casing and we are confident that the data has not been tampered with or damaged," a source was quoted by New Strait Times.
Meanwhile, the refrigerated train containing the corpses of the crash victims left the rebel-held territory in Donetsk for Kharkiv, which is controlled by the Ukrainian government. Some of the remains are to be taken to the Netherlands from there.
Dutch officials inspected the bodies and said the storage was of "good quality".
The Malaysia Airlines jetliner was carrying 298 people on board when it was shot down over the eastern Ukrainian airspace on 17 July.
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