Russian military aircraft crashes with 92 on board
The 92 people aboard did not survive the crash; plane did not send out SOS signal.
By REUTERSUpdated: DECEMBER 25, 2016 13:19Russian military plane with 92 people on board crashes into the Black Sea on its way to Syria
A Russian military plane with 92 people on board has crashed into the Black Sea on its way to Syria, Russian news agencies reported on Sunday.Major-General Igor Konashenkov, a ministry spokesman, told reporters that nobody had survived."The area of the crash site has been established. No survivors have been spotted," he said.In televised comments, President Vladimir Putin, speaking in St Petersburg, declared Dec. 26 a national day of mourning.Russian agencies, citing unnamed security sources, said the TU-154 aircraft had crashed in the sea near the southern Russian city of Sochi after disappearing from radar screens."The search operation is continuing," said Konashenkov. "Four ships, four helicopters, and a plane and a drone are working in the area," he said, saying a military commission had flown to Sochi to look into what happened.Six ships from Russia's Black Sea fleet were on their way to the crash site, and more than 100 divers were being drafted in to search the area along with a mini-submarine.The plane was carrying Russian servicemen and members of a renowned military choir and dance ensemble, the Alexandrov Ensemble, who were being flown into Russia's Hmeymim air base in Syria to entertain military personnel in the run-up to the new year, the RIA news agency quoted the Defense Ministry as saying.The plane was carrying 84 passengers and eight crew members, agencies quoted the ministry as saying. Nine Russian reporters were among the passengers, agencies said.Fragments of the plane have already been found at a depth of 50-70 meters at a distance of around 1.5 kilometers from the Russian coast, agencies reportedRussia's RIA news agency, citing an unidentified security source, said preliminary data indicated that the plane had crashed because of a technical malfunction or a pilot error.
The Interfax news agency cited an unnamed source as saying the plane had not sent an SOS signal.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Sunday it was too early to say what had caused the crash. President Vladimir Putin was being kept informed of latest developments, Peskov added.Russia's Defense Ministry regularly flies musicians into Syria to put on concerts for military personnel. The base they were heading for, Hmeymim, is in Latakia province. It is from there that Russia flies air strikes against Syrian rebels.Earlier in December, another Russian Defense Ministry crashed in Siberia with 39 people on board as it tried to make an emergency landing near a Soviet-era military base. Nobody was been killed in that incident, though 32 people were airlifted to hospital.