Malaysia Airlines MH17: Rebels Hand over Black Boxes and Bodies

Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine have handed over the two flight recorders of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which crashed in the 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 final 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 demanding that international monitors be given 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 as saying by New Strait Times.

Meanwhile, the refrigerated train containing the corpses of the crash victims has 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.