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Armenian plane crash kills 113
All 113 passengers and crew on board an Armenian airliner were killed on Wednesday when the plane crashed into the Black Sea off the Russian coast in heavy rain, the Russian emergencies ministry said.
Investigators blamed bad weather for bringing down the Airbus A320, which was trying to land at Sochi, a popular leisure spot in southern Russia. Justice officials said they had no reason to suspect a bomb.
The Russian emergencies ministry said rescue workers had found baggage, life jackets, pieces of wreckage and a patch of oil floating on the surface of the sea at the crash site.
At least 39 bodies had been retrieved from the water by 0900 GMT, along with dozens of body parts.
“According to preliminary information, all people on board are dead,” a ministry spokeswoman said.
The plane, operated by Armavia, had been making a short flight of about an hour from the Armenian capital Yerevan. Most of the passengers were Armenian nationals.
An Armavia official said the aircraft had initially been refused permission to land because of torrential rain, but the airport officials changed their minds.
The crash happened as the crew made a second approach. The official ruled out a technical failure.
“Our initial information is that the only cause was the weather, for example poor visibility,” said Gayane Davtsian, a spokeswoman for Armenia’s state aviation authority.
Graham Muldoon
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