Investigators to examine second black box from MH17

The family of Blackpool man Glenn Thomas, who died when Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 crashed, have been told his body has been recovered and identified.

Mr Thomas, 49, a media officer at the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva, was among 298 people killed when the Boeing 777-200 aircraft was downed over Ukraine on July 17.

The family of the former Granada and BBC journalist told ITV News they hope to bring his remains back to the UK very soon to enable his funeral to take place.

The Prime Minister said the Union flag and Dutch flag will hang at half-mast over Downing Street from this afternoon, as the coffins of those killed in the MH17 flight begin to arrive in the Netherlands.

The east Ukrainian site at which officials say two fighter jets have been shot down lies around 16 miles (25km) from the main wreckage of flight MH17.

In the map above, Saur-Mogila is shown marked red, with Grabovo, a town closely neighbouring the main site of the downed Malaysia Airlines plane, in green.

Pro-Russian rebels have shot down two Ukrainian fighter jets, a spokesman for Ukraine's military operations says.

The spokesman said the two were downed near Savur Mogila in eastern Ukraine. No details were known about the pilots.

About 60 coffins containing victims of the MH17 disaster are expected in the Netherlands on the first flights from Kharkiv, a Dutch government spokesperson has said.

Two military transport planes, one each from the Netherlands and Australia, are currently flying the bodies to Eindhoven Airport.

There was some confusion about how many of the 282 corpses the rebels said they had found were on the train which arrived yesterday in Kharkiv.

A Dutch official in charge of the international team dealing with the dead said that at least 200 bodies were aboard the train and that more remains could be found once the body bags are examined fully.

A plane carrying the bodies of some victims of the MH17 air disaster has departed for the Netherlands from Ukraine.

A guard of honour was formed by the Ukrainian air force, as representatives from many of the nations mourning victims watched on.

ITV News Correspondent Neil Connery reports:

Latest updates: MH17 victims' bodies flown to the Netherlands

The black boxes from Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 have been delivered to the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) headquarters at Farnborough in Hampshire, the AAIB has said.

The black box flight recorders from downed flight MH17 have arrived in Britain, the Ukraine government's investigation commission says.

A farewell ceremony has been held for a number of victims of the MH17 air disaster after their coffins were brought to an aircraft due to fly to the Netherlands today.

The Dutch King, Queen and Prime Minister will be at Eindhoven Airport for the arrival of the bodies, which will transported to a barracks in Hilversum for forensic examinations.

It is still unclear how many bodies from downed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 have arrived in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and how many may have been left behind at the crash site, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said.