Russia plane crash: Huge search for bodies in Black Sea

A huge search operation is continuing for a Russian military plane with 92 on board which crashed into the Black Sea.

Some 3,000 people, including more than 100 divers, as well as ships, planes, helicopters and submersibles are involved in the operation near Sochi.

Some fragments of the plane have been found, but initial reports that the fuselage was sighted have been denied.

The Tu-154 plane carrying soldiers, musicians and reporters was heading for Syria. All on board are feared dead.

Monday has been declared a national day of mourning.

First bodies found

Emergency officials said initial information suggested the fuselage was located 27m (89ft) below the surface and 1.7km (one mile) from the shore in the direction of the runway.

But the ministry later said it was not the fuselage but four fragments of the plane, one of them 4m long, that had been discovered.

The defence ministry said two parts of the plane’s control systems had been found and brought to the surface.

So far only 11 bodies and 154 body parts have been recovered, but officials believe many more may be trapped inside the remains of the aircraft.

Search teams worked through the night in three shifts, and the operation “did not stop for a minute”, defence ministry spokesman Maj Gen Igor Konashenkov said at a briefing on Monday.

The 10.5 sq km (four sq mile) search area just off the coast had been extended, he added.

Ten of the bodies and “86 fragments” of bodies have now arrived in Moscow for identification, Gen Konashenkov said later.

Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov said that the plane’s “black box” flight recorders, situated in the tail of the aircraft, had not yet been retrieved.

Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov said that terrorism was not “among the main versions” of the possible causes of the crash.

He reiterated that investigators were looking into whether pilot error or a technical fault may have brought down the aircraft.

The plane disappeared from radar two minutes after taking off from Sochi’s Adler airport at 05:25 (02:25 GMT) on Sunday, heading for Latakia in Syria, the defence ministry said.

The flight had originated in Moscow and landed in Sochi for refuelling.

It was carrying 64 members of the famed Alexandrov military music ensemble, who were to perform for Russian troops in Syria. BBC News