A Russian plane headed to an air base in Syria with 92 people aboard, including members of the world-famous Russian army choir, yesterday crashed into the Black Sea minutes after taking off from the city of Sochi, the Russian Ministry of Defense said.
There appeared to be no survivors.
Russian President Vladimir Putin went on television to declare a nationwide day of mourning today.
Photo: EPA
By yesterday afternoon, rescue teams had already recovered several bodies from the site of the crash of the Tu-154, which belonged to the ministry and was taking the Alexandrov Ensemble to a New Year’s concert at the Hemeimeem air base in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia.
A total of 84 passengers and eight crew members were on the plane when it disappeared from radar two minutes after taking off in good weather. Emergency crews found fragments about 1.5km from shore. There was no immediate word on the cause.
“We will conduct a thorough investigation into the reasons and will do everything to support the victims’ families,” Putin said in a televised statement.
Viktor Ozerov, head of the defense affairs committee at the upper house of Russian parliament, said the crash could have been caused by a technical malfunction or a crew error, but he believes it could not have been terrorism, because the plane was operated by the military.
“I totally exclude” the idea of an attack bringing down the plane, he said in remarks carried by state RIA Novosti news agency.
The passenger list released by the ministry included 64 members of the Alexandrov Ensemble, among them its leader, Valery Khalilov. The ensemble, often referred to as the Red Army choir, is the official choir of the Russian military and also includes a band and a dance company.
The choir sang Get Lucky at the opening of the 2014 Winter Olympics Russia hosted in Sochi, becoming an instant online sensation.
“Losing such a great collective all at once is a great tragedy,” Moscow city’s culture department head Alexander Kibovsky said, according to RIA Novosti.
The military has repeatedly flown groups of Russian singers and artists to perform at Hemeimeem, which serves as the main hub for the Russian air campaign in Syria conducted since September last year.
Also on board was Yelizaveta Glinka, a Russian doctor who has won wide acclaim for her charity work that included missions to war zones in eastern Ukraine and Syria.
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