77 ARMENIAN AND 28 RUSSIAN CITIZENS WERE ONBOARD THE CRASHED ARMAVIA PLANE

Yerevan, May 3. ArmInfo. 77 Armenian citizens and 28 Russian citizens,
mostly of Armenian origin, were onboard Armavia’s A-320 plane which
crashed 5 km of Sochi this night, says the head of the chief department
of civil aviation of Armenia Artem Movsissyan.

A total of 113 people were onboard, with the bodies of only 18 ones
found to date.

Movsissyan says that the plane took off from Yerevan 01:47 AM.

Because of bad weather over Georgia the captain decided to go back
to Yerevan, but the controller said that the weather was improving
and the plane could land in Sochi. 03:15 AM the plane disappeared.

According to the preliminary information, the plane crashed because
of bad weather, but the final answer will be given only after the
investigation. Movsissyan says that before the flight the plane was
in normal technical condition and its 10 tons of fuel were enough
for coming back to Yerevan – from Yerevan to Sochi a plane consumes
only 3.5 tons of fuel. Movsissyan says that A-320 was produced in
1995 and was insured.

Today the Armenian President called a meeting and gave instructions to
relevant services. One more Armavia plane with relatives and experts
onboard flew to Sochi today morning.