A Russian military plane reported missing Sunday with 91 people aboard has crashed, leaving a trail of plane wreckage in the Black Sea near Sochi, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
A Tupolev Tu-154 plane that was carrying 83 passengers and eight crew members disappeared from radar Sunday morning local time after taking off from the Adler airport near the Black Sea city, state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported.
The plane was headed to the Russian Hmeymim airbase in Latakia, Syria, where the country has a large military presence, for a concert ahead of New Year’s Eve, a source told Russia’s state news agency Tass.
According to RIA Novosti, the Defense Ministry said it found debris from the missing Tu-154 in the Black Sea one mile from Sochi.
CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam said no major weather patterns were present at the time of the plane’s disappearance.
Members of the renowned Alexandrov Ensemble, the Russian army’s official choir, was on board the plane, a source told Russia’s Interfax News Agency.
In addition to choir members, nine journalists — including three reporters with Star TV — and other military members were on board as well, according to a statement from the Defense Ministry’s official television network.
Tass has reported that, according to the Defense Ministry, “all search and rescue services of aviation units on the Southern Military District in Krasnodar and neighboring regions are engaged in aircraft search.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been informed that a Tu-154 plane disappeared from radar after taking off from Sochi, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Tass.
“The President has been informed that the plane disappeared from radars”, Peskov said. “Putin gets information from emergencies services conducting the search effort.”