PLANE CRASHES IN RUSSIA WITH 100 ABOARD
AP
Wednesday May 3, 2006 2:46 AM
MOSCOW (AP) – An Armenian passenger jet with 100 people aboard crashed
early Wednesday off the Black Sea coast shortly before it was to land
in the Russian city of Sochi, Russian news agencies reported.
Wreckage from the plane was found not far from the shoreline, the
ITAR-Tass news agency reported, quoting Russian Emergency Situations
spokesman Viktor Beltsov. The Interfax news agency reported that
rescue teams at the site pulled the body of a woman from the sea.
The Airbus A-320, which belonged to the Armenian airline Armavia,
disappeared from radar screens at about 2:15 a.m. local time, the
RIA-Novosti agency reported. It was flying from the Armenian capital
Yerevan to Sochi, a resort city on the Black Sea in southern Russia,
and was carrying 92 passengers – including five children – and eight
crew members, ITAR-Tass reported.
Rescuers found parts of the plane nearly four miles from the shore,
along with empty lifejackets – an indication that passengers had no
time to put them on, ITAR-Tass quoted an unidentified local emergency
official as saying. The rescuers were working in a driving rain,
Russian news agencies reported.