Data from the downed Malaysian jet’s black boxes has been successfully downloaded a week after the tragedy in east Ukraine, with the examination of bodies also under way as crash experts seek evidence of a missile strike.
The U.K. Air Accidents Investigation Branch gained access to the Boeing Co. 777’s flight-data readings today after yesterday retrieving cockpit-voice recordings, according to Dutch authorities who are leading the probe in recognition of the fact that almost 200 victims were from the Netherlands.
Specialists from the Dutch National Forensic Investigation Team are working in Kharkiv in government-controlled Ukraine after some of the 298 dead were moved there by train, with bodies being flown on to the Netherlands. While the flight recorders may reveal evidence of a missile attack, the fragmentation warhead thought to have been used will have peppered the 777’s fuselage and potentially its occupants, leaving the probe less dependent on an examination of a crash site that’s been heavily disturbed since the July 17 incident.
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