Separatist leader: Black boxes found

Rebels in eastern Ukraine have located the black boxes for the downed Malaysia Airlines passenger jet and will hand them over to international authorities, a separatist leader reportedly said Sunday.

{mosads}The leader, Alexander Borodai, also said that bodies recovered from the crash site would be held at a train station in the town of Torez until the arrival of a delegation from the International Civil Aviation Organization.

The news from The Associated Press came amid reports that armed rebels had forced Ukrainian emergency workers to hand over 196 bodies from the site and loaded them onto refrigerated train cars.

“Where they took the bodies — we don’t know,” Ukrainian Emergency Ministry spokeswoman Nataliya Bystro told The AP.

Russian news outlets said the trains were bound for rebel-controlled city of Donetsk.

The handling of the crash site has drawn intense criticism from around the world since the plane was shot down on Thursday.

Russian-backed separatists have limited access to the area for observers, journalists and aid workers, raising concerns that some evidence is being covered up.