One of the two black boxes on a Russian military jet that crashed into the Black Sea with 92 people on board has been found, the country’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday, according to the state-run Sputnik news agency.
The Tupolev Tu-154 crashed near Sochi shortly after takeoff after disappearing from radar Sunday morning.
The flight data recorder from was found 1,600 meters from the shore at a depth of 17 meters, the ministry said in a statement, as rescuers carry out a massive search operation in the sea.
Thirteen bodies and 150 pieces of debris have so far been recovered, the Itar-Tass news agency reported, quoting a source in security agencies.
The ministry has said there are probably no survivors.
The other black box — the cockpit voice recorder — is still missing.
The plane was carrying 64 musicians of the Alexandrov Ensemble, nine reporters, the head of the Spravedlivaya Pomoshch charity Elizaveta Glinka, and two federal civil servants. Eight crew members were also on board.
Terrorism was not a likely cause of the crash, Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov said Monday. Russia’s transport minister said it was assumed the plane had crashed due to technical malfunction or pilot error.