Data retrieved from the ill-fated MH17 flight black box shows the plane was hit multiple times by shrapnel from a missile explosion.

As the clean-up of the wreckage site continues in Grabovo, Ukraine, European officials have described the finding as “massive explosive decompression”, CBS News reports.

On Saturday, a European air safety official told the news organisation that the missile “did what it was designed to do - bring down airplanes”.

Although Australian, Malaysian and Dutch investigators have been scouring the site for days, they are yet to unearth more solid evidence establishing the cause of the crash, such as the sort of blast holes than an exploding missile might make through a plane.