11 dead in Russian military plane crash

A Russian military plane crashed into the sea during a training exercise in Russia's Far East region, leaving all eleven crew members missing and presumed dead, officials said yesterday.

The Tupolev Tu-142 plane disappeared from radar as it was coming to the end of a training mission Friday over the Tatarski Strait that divides Russia's Far East island of Sakhalin from the mainland, the defence ministry said.

"Given the conditions under which the catastrophe took place, we can presume that all the crew aboard the Tu-142 were killed," a source in the emergencies ministry told the RIA Novosti news agency.

"But search operations will continue as long as there is the slightest hope of finding someone alive," the official added.

Military sources told Russian news agencies that there were 11 crew aboard the plane. Previously, officials had said there were 10 crew members.

An emergencies ministry source in the Khabarovsk region in the Far East told RIA Novosti that in the early morning an object was found at a depth of 44 metres (144 feet) underwater "which appears to be the fuselage of the plane".

"Objects are being investigated at water level which could be fragments of the plane," the source added.

Search teams lead by Russia's Pacific Fleet were currently searching for the plane's black boxes and could use special submersibles to locate them, RIA Novosti said.

A defence ministry source told the agency that the most likely cause of the crash was a technical fault. Investigators have opened a criminal enquiry into the possible infringement of flight rules and preparation, it said.