OTTAWA (REUTERS) - The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) on Friday denied it had closed an air route over eastern Ukraine following the crash of a Malaysian airliner, saying it had no power to do so.

Malaysia's transport minister said earlier that the Montreal-based UN aviation body had shut the route after a Malaysia Airlines airliner was brought down in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, killing all 298 people aboard.

"ICAO does not open or close routes. We do not have an operational role," chief ICAO spokesman Anthony Philbin told Reuters by phone.