Russian military jet crash: Body of plane found in Black Sea

Russian divers on Monday found the main body of the military plane that crashed in the Black Sea with 92 people onboard, an official told Russian news agencies.

"Divers... have found the fuselage of the plane that crashed yesterday in the Black Sea," agencies quoted a member of the emergency ministry's Sochi-based search and rescue team as saying.

The plane, a Russian Defence Ministry TU-154, was carrying dozens of Red Army Choir singers, dancers and orchestra members to Syria where they were meant to entertain Russian troops in the run-up to the New Year.

Nine Russian reporters were also on board as well as military servicemen and Elizaveta Glinka, a prominent member of President Vladimir Putin's advisory human rights council. 
Flags were flown at half-mast on Monday, mourners placed flowers at the airport in Sochi, southern Russia, where the plane took off from, and in front of the Moscow headquarters of the Russian Army's Alexandrov song and dance troupe.

Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov told reporters on Monday that pilot error or a technical fault were the most likely explanations for the tragedy.
"The main versions (for the crash) do not include the idea of a terrorist act," Sokolov told a news conference in Sochi, the RIA news agency reported. 
"So we are working on the assumption that the reasons for the catastrophe could have been technical or a pilot error."