A Russian military jet has crashed in the Black Sea with 92 people on board, the defence ministry has said.
The plane, a Soviet designed Tu-154, was travelling from Adler, south of Sochi, to Russian air base in Syria however just a matter of minutes after taking off the jet crashed into the sea, reports Sky News.
The jet took off at 5:20am local time (2:20am GMT) and failed to check in with the control tower at 5:40 a.m.
One body has already been recovered and it is thought that there will be no survivors.
A body has been recovered from the Black Sea following the Russian Tu-154 plane crash off the coast of Sochi https://t.co/52xq1sQ3cm pic.twitter.com/kvNxkvrcPO
— Al Jazeera News (@AJENews) December 25, 2016
The plane was carrying over 60 members of the world renowned Russian Army band, the Alexandrov Ensemble, better known as the Red Army Choir, as they were flying out to play a concert at the airbase to entertain Russian soldiers in Syria.
Debris from the plane has already been found less than a mile off the Russian coast at a depth of 50-70 metres.
It is rumoured that a technical malfunction was the cause of the tragic crash however the Kremlin are not ruling anything out just yet.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said:
The President is waiting for the picture to be clear.
Our thoughts go out to all those affected by this disastrous crash.
