MOSCOW, Dec. 26 — A Russian military Tu-154 aircraft crashed into the Black Sea on Sunday, killing all 92 people aboard, a source from the the Russian Defense Ministry said.
The plane was en route to Russia’s Hmeimim air base in the Syrian port city of Latakia, when it vanished from the radar screens shortly after takeoff from an airfield in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi at 5:40 a.m. Moscow Time (0240 GMT).
Several bodies of the victims have been recovered at the crash site. Fragments of the aircraft have been discovered in 1.5 km from the Black Sea shore of Sochi at a depth of 50-70 meters.
The ministry’s press service said the retrieval and search operations now involve over 3,000 people and dozens of ships led by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu,
Over 200 policemen have also been mobilized in the mission, according to the local administration of the Russian Interior Ministry.
The federal Investigative Committee has launched a criminal case over the crash.
Based on preliminary information, the tragedy was caused by technical malfunction or pilot error, a law enforcement source was quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency as saying. However, the Defense Ministry said the Tu-154 aircraft was flown by an experienced first-class pilot.
[flexiblemap address=”Sochi, Russia” region=”Russia” directions=”true” width=”100%” height=”250px” zoom=”5″ ]
The Interfax news agency quoted an emergency services source as saying that the possibility of a terror attack has been virtually ruled out.
Live TV broadcast showed the weather was sunny at the time of the accident.
According to RIA Novosti, the Tu-154 was built in 1983 and has spent 6,689 hours in flight, with the most recent technical maintenance conducted in September 2016.
The Defense Ministry confirmed the plane carried 84 passengers and eight crew members onboard..
Sixty four of the passengers were members of the Alexandrov Ensemble of the Russian Armed Forces choir, and nine Russian journalists. They were heading to the air base for New Year celebrations.
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared Dec. 26 a nationwide day of mourning, and promised a thorough investigation.
Three members each of the television crews of Russia’s Zvezda TV channel, the NTV and Channel One mainly a correspondent, a sound producer and an operator were onboard the plane, the press services of the TV channels said.
The Alexandrov Ensemble was established in 1928, is recognized as the oldest and biggest choir of the Russian military.
The Tu-154 is a three-engine medium-range airliner produced by Tupolev. It is one of the fastest civilian aircraft in use and has been widely used in extreme Arctic conditions.
Sunday’s crash was the second accident in less than one week concerning Russian planes. On Monday, an Il-18 aircraft crash-landed near the Tiksi airfield in Russia’s Far Eastern Sakha Republic, injuring 16 people.
Since 1968 there have been 39 fatal incidents involving the Tu-154, most of which were caused either by factors unrelated to the aircraft, or by its extensive use in demanding conditions.
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