'Valid Data' Downloaded From MH17 Black Box

Investigators have managed to download "valid" information from downed flight MH17's black box cockpit voice recorder (CVR) despite it being damaged.

The Dutch Safety Board, which is leading the probe into the Malaysia Airlines crash, also said there was no evidence the recorder was tampered with following claims by Ukrainian authorities.

After examining the CVR, the board said the "memory module was intact" and the downloaded data will be analysed in more depth.

It added: "A thorough analysis of the information obtained will take time, the results of this will be included in the investigation."

On Friday, the international team of investigators will start looking at the black box flight data recorder (FDR).

It went on: "This will show whether this recorder also contains relevant information, in which case the data from both recorders will be combined."

The black boxes , which were handed over by pro-Russian separatists to Malaysian authorities on Tuesday, were delivered to the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) headquarters in Farnborough, Hampshire, on Wednesday.

The CVR will have given them a recording of up to two hours' conversation between the pilots.

And the FDR will provide them with a record of how the plane's multiple parts were operating and were being operated.

The board said: "The CVR was damaged but the memory module was intact. Furthermore no evidence or indications of manipulation of the CVR was found.

"Following the examination, the CVR data was successfully downloaded and contained valid data from the flight.

"The downloaded data have to be further analysed and investigated."

The AAIB and other experts began their examination as the first 40 bodies from the crash site arrived in the Netherlands on military flights.

The United States has said it suspects Ukrainian rebels shot down the jet with a Russian-made missile last Thursday, which they deny.

All 298 people on board were killed in the disaster, including 193 Dutch and 10 from the UK.