Rescue workers have found fragments of a Russian jet that plunged into the Black Sea on Christmas, the country’s emergency ministry announced Monday.
(FOX)- As a top transportation official said pilot error or a technical fault is likely to be the cause of the crash.
The ministry said in a statement Monday that divers this afternoon found several fragments of the plane one mile away from the shore and 82 feet under the sea. It said some of the debris has been recovered, and the divers are going back into the water to search for more. By Sunday evening about 11 bodies were recovered and fragments of bodies were also found.
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 Sochi. The passengers included dozens of singers in Russia’s world-famous military choir.
Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said in televised remarks that investigators are looking into a possible pilot error or a technical fault and that a terrorist attack was not among the main theories.
Sokolov officially ruled out terrorism after saying Sunday that investigators were looking into every possibility 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.