Parts of crashed Russian plane found in Black Sea

Officials rule out terrorism angle, say flight recorders that could contain information about the plane’s last moments before the crash were located in its tail

Russian rescuer boats patrol off the coast of the Black Sea city of Sochi looking for debris of the TU-154 military plane, which crashed on Sunday while heading to Syria, (below, right) A handout photo taken by the Sentinel-1B satellite shows the site of the mishap. Pics/AFP

Moscow: Russian divers yesterday found parts of the military plane that crashed in the Black Sea with 92 people onboard, a local official said. “The (plane) debris are at the depth of 27 metres one mile from the shore,” said Rimma Chernova, a spokeswoman for the Sochi-based search and rescue operations.

Chernova added that divers were planning to use a remotely-operated diving machine to determine the precise coordinates and size of the plane parts in order to understand what to do next. Officials said earlier that the flight recorders that could contain information about the Tu-154 plane’s last moments before the crash were located in its tail. Meanwhile, Major-General Igor Konashenkov, a Defence Ministry spokesman, said 11 bodies had been recovered. The ministry denied a RIA report that some of the dead passengers had been wearing life jackets. He said the sea and air search operation, involving around 3,500 people, was being expanded. Agencies

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!