Ukrainian rebel forces have allegedly found the black box from the crashed MH17 Malaysia Airlines.

According to ABC News quoting Interfax, the rebels known as the Donetsk People's Republic had agreed to hand the black box over to the Russian-run regional air safety authority.

The rebels, announced their cooperation with authorities in a statement.

Its leader Andrei Purgin told Interfax that they are most likely to hand it over to the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC).

The Malaysia Airline passenger plane flight MH17 operated by Boeing 777 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed in Eastern Ukraine on Thursday.

In a media statement, the national carrier reported that the plane departed Amsterdam at 12.15pm (Amsterdam local time) and was estimated to arrive at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 6.10am (Malaysia local time) the next day.

Its last known position was over the volatile Ukrainian airspace.

Malaysia Airlines confirmed via its Twitter that it had lost contact with the aircraft 1415 (GMT) at 30km from Tamak waypoint, approximately 50km from the Russia-Ukraine border .

The flight was carrying 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board.