MH17 AIR CRASH: RECOVERED BODIES PUT ON TRAIN

The remains of up to 196 people from the MH17 crash in Ukraine have been loaded on to refrigerated rail wagons, to be taken to an unknown destination.

All 298 people on Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 died when a missile reportedly hit it on Thursday.

Western countries have criticised pro-Russian rebels controlling the area for restricting access to the crash site.

The rebels say they will hand MH17's flight recorders to the International Civil Aviation Organization.

The UN Security Council has called for a full and independent investigation  into the crash

The freight train with its five sealed wagons has been standing at Torez railway station, 15km (nine miles) from the crash site.

The carriages, with heavy closed doors, look like refrigeration units and there is the occasional smell normally associated with dead bodies, the BBC's Richard Galpin reports from Torez.

OSCE monitors say that pro-Russian gunmen allowed them to visit more of the are on Saturday

The OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) mission in the region said in a tweet it had been told that 196 bodies were on the rail wagons in Torez.

An OSCE team was allowed to see three of the wagons and observed "tagged body bags", without being able to verify the figures. It's not clear where the train will take the bodies.

Speaking in Donetsk, the biggest rebel-held city in the east, rebel political leader Alexander Borodai reportedly said the bodies would remain in Torez until international aviation inspectors arrived.

He also said his forces had brought the plane's "black boxes" to the city and he was supervising them personally.

The passenger list released by Malaysia Airline shows the plane was carrying 193 Dutch nationals (including one with dual US nationality), 43 Malaysians (including 15 crew), 27 Australians, 12 Indonesians and 10 Britons (including one with dual South African nationality), four Germans, four Belgians, three from the Philippines, and one each from Canada and New Zealand.

In other developments

US Secretary of State John Kerry said it was "pretty clear" Russia had transferred a missile system to the rebels which was allegedly used to down the jet

Ukraine produced what it said was a recording of another intercepted call between rebels (in Russian) saying Moscow had given orders not to hand the "black boxes" to international monitors. The authenticity of the tape could not be confirmed

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said talks were under way with the rebels on letting the train leave rebel territory