Black box of shot-down Malaysian airliner found
18 Jul 2014
Rescue workers at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines' Flight MH17, shot down in eastern Ukraine, said today they had found one of the black boxes, even as world leaders stepped up demands for an international investigation into the incident in which all 298 people on board were killed.
Emergency crews were working through the debris of the downed jet that was spread out across an area stretching for kilometres, while rebels controlling the area have pledged to allow international investigators access to the site.
Washington and others strongly believe that the surface-to-air missile that downed the Boeing 777 on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was fired by Ukrainian separatists backed by Moscow.
President Vladimir Putin has strongly denied these allegations and blamed the incident squarely on Kiev.
US vice-president Joe Biden, speaking in Detroit, said the passenger jet was apparently "blown out of the sky".
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott appeared to go further than other Western leaders in apportioning blame, demanding on Friday that Moscow answer questions about the "Russian-backed rebels" that he said were behind the disaster.
More than 20 Australians were among the many nationalities aboard Flight MH17.
The Netherlands was the worst affected, with 154 Dutch citizens on the downed plane.
The plane crashed near the village of Hrabove about 40 km from the border with Russia near the regional capital of Donetsk, an area that is a stronghold of rebels who have been fighting Ukrainian government forces for several months, shortly after Crimea broke-away from Ukraine on March this year to re-join Russia (See: Crimea votes to re-join Russia; EU, US impose sanctions).
Ukraine accused pro-Moscow militants, aided by Russian military intelligence officers, of firing a long-range, Soviet-era SA-11 ground-to-air missile. Leaders of the rebel Donetsk People's Republic denied any involvement and said a Ukrainian air force jet had brought down the intercontinental flight.
The incident has heightened the tension between Russia and the Western powers, which are already imposing sanctions against the country over the Ukraine imbroglio.
