Russian Plane Crash Kills 92 Passengers Two Minutes After Takeoff

Rescue Team In Crash Site

On Sunday 25th December 2016, a Russian military plane carrying 92 people, including dozens of Red Army Choir singers, has crashed into the Black Sea on its way to Syria, leaving no survivors. The military choir and dance ensemble were being flown into Russia's Hmeymim air base in Syria to entertain soldiers in the run-up to the new year.

Alexandrov Ensemble (Millitary Choir)

Major-General Igor Konashenkov said no survivors had been spotted in the Black Sea at the crash site of the Russian defence ministry Tu-154. "The area of the crash site has been established. No survivors have been spotted," he said.

Although some blamed the act on terrorist, Viktor Ozerov, head of the defence 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." 

Rescue teams found fragments of the plane at a distance of about 1.5 kilometres (less than a mile) from shore, at a depth of 50-70 metres.

Rescue Team

Passengers On-board Include:

64 members of the Alexandrov Ensemble (Millitary Choir), among them its leader, Valery Khalilov.

Yelizaveta Glinka, a Russian doctor who has won wide acclaim for her charity work. Her foundation said that Glinka was accompanying a shipment of medicines for a hospital in Syria.

Nine Russian journalists from three Russian television stations were also among the passengers.

Putin therefore declared Monday, a public holiday to mourn the plane crash victims.