Preliminary report on MH17 black box expected to be announced in September

He said the international investigation team had prepared a report and would hand over the documents to the countries concerned.

The investigation team had obtained the voice recording from the cockpit and the flight data content besides conducting a meeting on the preliminary report on the black box, Liow said after attending the Convocation of the Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) at the Perak Campus, here today.

"All the recordings from the black box were intact, not destroyed, and could be read clearly," he said.

The Boeing 777-200 aircraft was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was believed to have been shot by a guided missile on July 17.

The plane, with 298 people on board, crashed in the Donetsk region, east of Ukraine.

On the ceremony to give respect to the remains of Malaysian victims of the crash in Ukraine, Liow hoped that the event to be held on Aug 22 would proceed smoothly.

"It is hoped that family members of the victims will be patient and strong...the government is with them. We are all grieving, that is why the government announced the day of mourning because it was a national tragedy," he said.

The minister said the remains would be brought back by a special aircraft, a Boeing 747, from Amsterdam which was expected to arrive at the KL International Airport (KLIA) at 10am.