There is currently no info on possibility of terrorist attack on board crashed Tupolev Tu-154
No indications of a terrorist attack on board the Tupolev Tu-154 plane that crashed into the Black Sea on Sunday have been obtained as of yet, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said.
"No indications or facts pointing to the possibility of a terrorist attack or an act of sabotage on board the aircraft have been obtained as of yet," the Russian Federal Security Service's public relations center told Interfax on Monday.
"Eyewitnesses of the plane crash have now been determined, there is also a recording from a dashboard camera, with which members of the group of investigators are working," the Russian Federal Security Service's public relations center said.
The Federal Security Service also said the main working theories regarding the Tu-154 crash in the Black Sea are "foreign objects getting into the engine, low-quality fuel leading to loss of capacity and engine failure, pilot error, and a technical failure of the plane."
The military investigations department of the Investigative Committee for the Sochi garrison has opened a criminal case based on evidence of a crime under Article 351 (violation of flight regulations or preparations for them) of the Russian Criminal Code, the special service said.
The central administration of the investigations body has been tasked with investigating the criminal case by the chairman of the Investigative Committee. Search and rescue work and operative and investigative actions are ongoing.
The Federal Security Service has reported the timeline of the Russian Defense Ministry's Tupolev Tu-154 departure from Moscow, its landing at the Sochi airport for refueling and its takeoff until the moment of its crash into the Black Sea.
The Tupolev Tu-154 arrived at Sochi airport from Chkalovsky airport in the Moscow region at 03:43 a.m. for refueling, which was initially expected to take place in Mozdok, but was changed to Sochi due to bad weather conditions.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the plane was carrying 84 passengers and eight crewmembers, the passengers' luggage and 150 kilos of cargo (food and medications).
"The aircraft was not carrying military or dual-purpose cargoes or pyrotechnic devices," the Federal Security Service's public relations center said.
The Federal Security Service said the plane was taken under the protection of the Russian Federal Security Service's Border Guard Service and Russian Defense Ministry troops upon arrival at the Sochi airport.
A mobile stairway was deployed to the aircraft during refueling, one official from the Federal Security Service's Border Guard Service and one Sochi customs official went on board. The captain and the flight engineer left the plane to supervise the refueling," the Federal Security Service's public relations center said.
On December 25, a Russian Defense Ministry Tupolev Tu-154 plane en route from Sochi to Latakia failed to make contact and disappeared from the radars of the air traffic control services at 5:25 a.m. Moscow time, one minute after takeoff over the Black Sea at a distance of 6,250 meters from the airport runway.
According to the Federal Security Service's public relations center, it has been determined that the takeoff speed of the Tu-154 (no. RA-85572) was 345 km/h, which is a standard takeoff speed for aircraft of this type.
The crash site was found 1.5 kilometers off the coast of the Black Sea at the Khosta traverse. "The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry's Aleot vessel and the Russian Federal Security Service's Border Guard Service's Zhemchug vessel," the Vodolaz-32 diving cutter of the Rosrechflot marine emergency and rescue service with divers aboard, and other search and rescue services "were immediately sent" to the area," the Federal Security Service's public relations center said.