Investigators in the UK have begun the examination of two flight data recorders from the downed Malaysian Airlines flight MH17.

All 298 people on board flight MH17 were killed in the crash in Ukraine on July 17th, including ten Britons.

The flight was on route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, with Dutch nationals making up the majority of those killed.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch in Farnborough will start the process of examining the two flight recorders almost a week after the plane crashed in eastern Ukraine.

The Dutch Safety Board, which is leading the investigation, confirmed earlier cockpit voice recorder had already produced valid data.

The box takes down sounds such as pilots’ voices and, potentially, an explosion.

The other data recorder stores technical information on the performance of the aircraft.

Experts expect the process of retrieving the data to take around two days.

When this stage is completed the data will be sent back to Dutch authorities. 

While no firm conclusions have been reached, intelligence strongly indicates the plane was shot down by an SA-11 BUK missile launched from a separatist-held area in eastern Ukraine.

A total of 200 bodies have so far been accounted for out of 298 victims.