Russia searching for cause of jet crash that claimed 92 lives
Absence of distress calls may indicate terrorist activity. Choir killed in crash had historic role
SOCHI, RUSSIA — Backed by ships, helicopters and drones, Russian rescue teams searched Sunday for victims after a Russian plane carrying 92 people to Syria crashed into the Black Sea shortly after takeoff. Investigators said they were looking into every possible cause for the crash, including a terror attack.
All 84 passengers and eight crew members on the Russian military’s Tu-154 plane are believed to have died when it crashed two minutes after taking off at 5:25 a.m. in good weather from the southern Russian city of Sochi. The passengers included dozens of singers in Russia’s world-famous military choir.
More than 3,000 rescue workers on 32 ships — including over 100 divers flown in from across Russia — were searching the crash site at sea and along the shore, the Defense Ministry said. Helicopters, drones and submersibles were being used to help spot bodies and debris. Powerful spotlights were brought in so the operation could continue all night.
Emergency crews found fragments of the plane about 1 mile from shore. By Sunday evening, rescue teams had recovered 11 bodies, and Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said parts of other bodies also were found.
Asked if a terror attack was a possibilit y, Sokolov said investigators were looking into every possible reason for the crash. Several experts noted factors that suggested a terror attack, such as the crew’s failure to report any malfunction and the fact that plane debris was scattered over a wide area.
The plane was taking the Defense Ministry ’s choir, the Alexandrov Ensemble, to perform at a New Year’s concert at Hemeimeem air base in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia. Those on board also included nine Russian journalists and a Russian doctor famous for her work in war zones.
Russian President Vladimir Putin went on television to declare Monday a nationwide day of mourning.
“We will conduct a thorough investigation into the reasons and will do everything to support the victims’ families,” Putin said.
The Black Sea search area — which covered about 4 square miles — was made more difficult by underwater currents that carried debris and body fragments into the open sea.
Sokolov said the plane’s flight recorders did not have radio beacons, so locating them on the seabed was going to be challenging.
The Tu-154 i s a Sovietbuilt three-engine airliner designed in the late 1960s. More than 1,000 have been built, and they have been used extensively in Russia and worldwide. The plane that crashed Sunday was built in 1983, and underwent factory check-ups and maintenance in 2014 and this year, according to the Defense Ministry.
Magomed Tolboyev, a decorated Russian test pilot, said it was clear that all on board had died in the crash.
“There is no chance to survive in such situation,” he said, according to the Interfax news agency.
Before Sokolov spoke to reporters in Sochi, senior Russian lawmakers had ruled out a terror attack, arguing that the military plane was under reliable protection. Security is particularly tight in Sochi, the Black Sea city that hosted the 2014 Winter Games and is regularly visited by Putin, who often receives foreign leaders at his residence there.
But some experts said the crew’s failure to report a malfunction pointed at a possible terror attack.
“Possible malfunctions ... certainly wouldn’t have prevented the crew from reporting them,” Vitaly Andreyev, a former senior Russian air traffic controller, told RIA Novosti. MOSCOW — The Russian military choir that lost most of its singers in a plane crash Sunday is often described as the Kremlin’s “singing weapon.”
The Alexandrov Ensemble, sometimes referred to as the Red Army choir, was founded in 1928. It won global fame with its patriotic repertoire during Soviet times, but in recent years sought to cater to modern audiences. Many performances have gone viral, including a rousing rendition of Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” by singers in military dress at the opening of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Sixty-four members of the ensemble, including director Valery Khalilov, were heading from Sochi to Russia’s air base in Syria to perform a New Year’s concert for troops when their plane crashed into the Black Sea on Sunday. All 92 people on board are presumed dead.
“It’s difficult to grasp the scale of that tragedy,” Moscow city’s culture department head Alexander Kibovsky said in televised remarks. “They were raising pride for our culture, our country, across the entire world.”
The 186-member ensemble includes a band and a dancing troupe along with the choir that had about 70 singers. The band wasn’t on the plane.
Soloist Vadim Ananyev’s wife just delivered a baby and successfully pleaded with him to remain at home to help. The Interfax news agency said another singer was denied access to board at the last minute because his foreign passport has expired.