An Armenian passenger plane crashed early Wednesday into the Black Sea off the coast of the southern Russian resort of Sochi, killing all 113 people on board, Russian media reported.
Wreckage from the Armenian passenger aircraft has been found in the Black Sea some six km from shore, and rescue workers so far have found eight bodies at the site, Russian news agencies quoted Emergency Situations Ministry officials as saying.
The Airbus 320 was traveling from the Armenian capital Yerevan to the Black Sea resort of Sochi and vanished from radar screens near Sochi at about 2:15 AM (2215 GMT Tuesday), Itar-Tass quoted Viktor Beltsov, deputy head of Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry's information department, as saying.
The Emergency Situation Ministry said the plane belonged to the Armenian airline Armavia.
Beltsov has said earlier that according to preliminary information, there were 113 people on board, including six children.
Beltsov said weather conditions were poor at the time the plane crashed.
Armenian airline officials said they believed the crash was due to the stormy weather.
The emergencies ministry had sent an amphibious plane to the scene of the crash, the RIA news agency said. Boats and divers were involved in the search but heavy rain and poor visibility were complicating the operation.
(Xinhua News Agency May 3, 2006)
