MH17 black boxes will go to UK for analysis, says deputy transport minister
The Malaysian Insider – 2 hours 45 minutes agoRELATED CONTENT
- MH17 black boxes will go to UK for analysis, says deputy transport minister
Black boxes from the Malaysian jetliner downed over eastern Ukraine will be sent to a lab in the United Kingdom, said Malaysia's deputy transport minister today.
"The procedure is to have the black boxes sent to the nearest lab that is authorized by the ICAO for analysis," Aziz Kaprawi told Reuters, referring to the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
The two black boxes are now in the possession of Malaysian authorities after Prime Minister Najib Razak brokered a deal late yesterday with eastern Ukraine's separatists leader to hand over evidence that could shed light on the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 last Thursday.
Aziz said that the black boxes would travel to a lab under the Air Accidents Investigations Branch in the UK.
A Belgian Air Force jet was already heading towards Kiev today afternoon to collect the boxes. A Belgian defence ministry spokesman said it should deliver them to Britain in the evening.
The Malaysia Airlines plane crashed last Thursday while en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, and a ground-to-air missile is suspected of bringing it down.
Britain has agreed to a Dutch request for air accident investigators to retrieve data from the black boxes of the Malaysia Airlines plane that was downed over Ukraine with the loss of 298 lives, Prime Minister David Cameron said today.
The two boxes may shed light on Western claims that flight MH17 was shot down with a Russian surface-to-air missile fired from an area controlled by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
"We've agreed Dutch request for air accident investigators at Farnborough to retrieve data from MH17 black boxes for international analysis," Cameron said on Twitter.
The UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch, based in Farnborough, southern England, is part of the Department for Transport and is responsible for the investigation of civil aircraft accidents and serious incidents. – Reuters, July 22, 2014.
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