Malaysia Airlines MH17 crash: Failure to secure crash site a 'betrayal' of lives lost, says minister

Malaysia's Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai addresses the media at a hotel near the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang on July 19, 2014. Malaysia said vital evidence at the Ukrainian site where flight MH17 went down had been tampered with,
Malaysia's Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai addresses the media at a hotel near the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang on July 19, 2014. Malaysia said vital evidence at the Ukrainian site where flight MH17 went down had been tampered with, calling it a "betrayal" of the lives lost in the disaster. -- PHOTO: AFP

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Malaysia on Saturday said vital evidence at the Ukrainian site where flight MH17 went down had been tampered with, calling it a "betrayal" of the lives lost in the disaster.

"The integrity of the site has been compromised, and there are indications that vital evidence has not been preserved in place. Interfering with the scene of the crash risks undermining the investigation itself," said Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai, who will be heading to Ukraine later on Saturday.

"Failure to stop such interference would be a betrayal of the lives that were lost," he told a press conference.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Ukraine's Security Council said on Saturday that the black boxes belonging to the airliner had not been handed over to Kiev and he had no information about them.

Reiterating Kiev's position that a ceasefire would be agreed if the rebels put down their weapons, handed over control of the border and allowed international monitors to assess the situation, Mr Andriy Lysenko told a news conference: "We have no information on the black boxes. Not one of them has been handed over to the Ukrainian side."

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