Pro-Russian rebels say they have recovered the black boxes with key flight data from the Malaysia Airlines passenger jet that was shot down over the eastern Ukraine farmlands.
Rebel leader Alexander Borodai said Sunday the insurgents are holding the boxes and will turn them over to international air crash experts. The boxes, called black, but actually orange, record cockpit conversations and information on the plane's operations.
They could give investigators clues whether the pilots had any hint that an anti-aircraft missile was about to hit the jet Thursday, killing all 298 people aboard.
Rebels took control of 196 bodies rescue workers have recovered from the crash site. They put them on refrigerated train cars and said the bodies would remain in the rebel-held town of Torez, 15 kilometers from the crash site, until the international investigators arrive.