Armenian jetliner crashes into Russia’s Black Sea killing all aboard

Passenger jetliner A-320 of Armavia airline crashed above the Black Sea five kilometers far from the airport of destination. Rescuers continue to retrieve the bodies of the killed passengers from the water: 25 bodies have been recovered as of 7:00 a.m. Moscow time. An official spokesman for Russia's EMERCOM stated later that all 113 people on board the liner had been killed in the air crash. None were wearing life jackets, which means that the people had no time to prepare for an emergency landing.

Photo: Armenian jetliner crashes into Russia’s Black Sea killing all aboard

The Airbus A-320, which belonged to the Armenian airline Armavia, disappeared from radar screens about four miles from the shore and crashed after making a turn toward the Adler airport near the southern Russian city of Sochi, Emergency Situations Ministry spokesman Viktor Beltsov said.

Armavia officials said they believed the crash was due to the weather, but Sergei Kubinov, regional head of the Emergency Situations Ministry, said the age of the aircraft and technical problems could have been involved. Investigators did not believe terrorism was a factor.

The plane disappeared from radar at about 2:15 a.m. local time during a flight from Yerevan to Sochi, Beltsov said. He said the plane went down while trying to make a repeat attempt at an emergency landing; the Interfax news agency quoted the Russian air control agency as saying that the plane's crew had not reported an emergency.

When the plane crashed in the sea it went 300 meters under the water. Nineteen rescue vessels are currently staying on the crash site.

There were 36 women, 63 men, six children and eight members of the crew aboard. Twenty-six of the passengers were Russian citizens, others, with an exception for one Ukrainian female, were nationals of Armenia.

Source: agencies

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