Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17: Footage Emerges of Black Box Being Recovered from Crash Site

A separatist leader in eastern Ukraine says rebels have recovered the black boxes for Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.

According to an AP report, Alexander Borodai said on Sunday that the devices would be handed over to the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

Borodai also said the bodies recovered from the crash site in eastern Ukraine would be kept in refrigerated containers at a train station in the town of Torez until an international aviation delegation arrives.

Video footage has emerged of the black box recorder (which is in fact orange in colour), from Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 being recovered from the crash site in eastern Ukraine.

Reuters released the video today showing a uniformed man recovering the recorder from a field in the rebel controlled area.

On Friday, the Ukrainian government said that the boxes were still in Ukrainian territory but were not in Ukraine's possession.

Yesterday, a Ukraine Security Council spokesman said that the boxes had not been handed over and he had no information about them.

Alexander Borodai, prime minister of the self-styled Donetsk People's Republic yesterday said that rebels had not found the black boxes, and he did not know where they are.

"The black boxes have not been found and we are not touching the site," he said.

The Ukrainian security service the SSU today posted a video on YouTube in which it alleges a Russian official and rebel discuss the importance of securing the black boxes, under direct order from Moscow.

Michael Bociurkiw, spokesman of the OSCE mission that has so far been allowed only partial access to the crash site, said no one at the crash site was able to tell his people where the recorders might be.

Malaysian investigators arrived in Kiev yesterday to investigate the cause of the disaster.

It is alleged that the airliner was shot down by separatist rebels using Russian-supplied Buk missiles.

Malaysian news agency Bernama reported that the 131-member team was still negotiating with rebels over access to the site, which is still reportedly unsecured.

The Ukrainian government has accused the rebels of destroying evidence to obscure their involvement in bringing down the plane.

Commercial flights typically carry two types of black box: one which records the voices of the pilots, and another that gives technical information on how the plane was operating.