Russian separatists give back bodies and black box from downed flight MH17

Pro-Moscow separatists have released black box of crashed flight MH17 to Malaysian officials.

15:12 22 July 2014

Pro-Moscow separatists have finally agreed to release flight MH17’s black box to Malaysian officials, just as the bodies of 192 victims went on the way to Ukrainian city of Kharkiv via train having been held up.

The move came after 12 hours of negotiation between Malaysian officials with the group’s leader, Alexander Borodai.

The turning over of black boxes was done in front of cameras and the expectant press.

Borodai, the self-proclaimed Prime Minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic, used the opportunity to once again deny that it was rebel armed forces that were responsible for downing the plane.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian delegation leader, Sakri, said that the black boxes are in “good condition.”

“I can see that the black box is intact even though a little bit damaged, but in a good condition.”

However, he refused to answer when asked on who he believed was the responsible for the tragedy.

The pro-Russian separatists’ move to hand over the black boxes came after four days of calls by the international community to allow a full scale investigation into the tragedy that killed 189 Dutch nationals, 44 Malaysians, 27 Australians, and 10 Britons among others.