MH17 black boxes will go to UK for analysis, says Malaysian minister

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - 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 on Tuesday. "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 were collected after Prime Minister Najib Razak brokered a deal late on Monday with eastern Ukraine's separatists leader, to hand over evidence that could shed light on the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 last Thursday. Dutch authorities will hand over the black boxes to a lab that works with the Air Accidents Investigations Branch of the British Department for Transport. A Belgian Air Force jet was already heading towards Kiev on Tuesday afternoon to pick up 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. ((Reporting by Trinna Leong, additional reporting by Philip Blenkinsop, editing by John Stonestreet, Larry King))