92 killed in Russian military jet crash en-route to Syria

In televised comments, President Vladimir Putin, speaking in St Petersburg, declared December 26 a national day of mourning

Rescuers carry the body of a victim of Russian Defence Ministry’s TU-154 crash, found at the site of the Tu-154 plane crash near Sochi, Russia, 25 December 2016 [Ekaterina Lyzlova / Anadolu Agency]

Rescue boats search for the wreckage of a crashed Russian Tu-154 plane, belonging to the Russian Defence Ministry near the coastline of Sochi, Russia on December 25, 2016 [Ekaterina Lyzlova / Anadolu Agency]

Rescuers unload fragments and remains from a boat, found at the site of the Tu-154 plane crash near Sochi, Russia, 25 December 2016 [Ekaterina Lyzlova / Anadolu Agency]

Rescue helicopter search for the wreckage of a crashed Russian Tu-154 plane, belonging to the Russian Defense Ministry near the coastline of Sochi, Russia on December 25, 2016 [Ekaterina Lyzlova / Anadolu Agency]

Rescuers unload fragments and remains from a boat, found at the site of the Tu-154 plane crash near Sochi, Russia, 25 December 2016 [Ekaterina Lyzlova / Anadolu Agency]

Russian security guards are seen at the port as rescue boats search for the wreckage of a crashed Russian Tu-154 plane, belonging to the Russian Defence Ministry near the coastline of Sochi, Russia on December 25, 2016 [Ekaterina Lyzlova / Anadolu Agency]

Rescuers unload fragments and remains from a boat, found at the site of the Tu-154 plane crash near Sochi, Russia, 25 December 2016 [Ekaterina Lyzlova / Anadolu Agency]

A Russian military plane carrying 92 people, including dozens of Red Army Choir singers, dancers and orchestra members, crashed into the Black Sea on its way to Syria on Sunday, killing everyone on board, Russian authorities said.

The Russian Defence Ministry said one of its TU-154 Tupolev planes had disappeared from radar screens at 0525 MSK (0225 GMT), two minutes after taking off from Sochi in southern Russia, where it had stopped to refuel from Moscow, on its way to Syria.

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. An unnamed ministry source told Russian news agencies no life rafts had been found, while another source told the Interfax agency that the plane had not sent an SOS signal.

In televised comments, President Vladimir Putin, speaking in St Petersburg, declared December 26 a national day of mourning.

The jet, a Soviet-era Tupolev plane built in 1983, had been carrying 84 passengers and eight crew members. At least 60 were members of the Alexandrov Ensemble, better known internationally as the Red Army Choir, and were being flown out to Russia’s Hmeymim air base in Syria to entertain troops in the run-up to the New Year. Nine Russian reporters were also on board as well as military servicemen.

Russia’s RIA news agency, citing an unidentified security source, said preliminary information indicated that the plane had crashed because of a technical malfunction or a pilot error. Another source told Russian agencies that the possibility of a militant act had been ruled out. The weather had been good.

Russian military investigators said in a statement they had opened a criminal investigation into the crash.

The Kremlin said Putin expressed his deepest condolences to those who had lost loved ones in the crash and ordered Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to head a government investigatory commission.

Russia’s Defence 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 launches air strikes against Syrian rebels.

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