Tu-154 Crash Case Sent to Central Department of Russia’s Investigative Committee

The criminal case initiated over the crash of Russia’s Tu-154 aircraft in the Black Sea was transferred to the central department of the Russian Investigative Committee, a representative of the committee, Svetlana Petrenko, said Sunday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, Petrenko said that the Russian Investigative Committee's military investigation department for Sochi initiated the criminal case into the crash.

"According to the order of [Russia’s Investigative Committee’s Chairman] Alexander Bastrykin, the criminal case was transmitted for further investigation to the Investigative Committee’s central apparatus," Petrenko said.

A group of Russian investigators departed to the crash site, according to Petrenko.

Earlier in the day, a Russian Defense Ministry's Tu-154 plane heading from Moscow to Syria with 92 people on board disappeared from radar shortly after refueling in the Russian southern city of Adler, near Sochi. Fragments of the plane were discovered 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) from the sea shore of Sochi at a depth of 50-70 meters (164-184 feet).

Most of the passengers were members of the famous army choir of the Russian armed forces, the Alexandrov Ensemble, who were traveling from Moscow to Hmeymim airbase in Syria to take part in a New Year concert.