A Russian defense force Tu-154 aircraft carrying 92 people crashed in the Black Sea shortly after take off at 5:40 a.m. local time on Sunday.

The plane, with 84 passengers, including nine journalists, and eight crew members on board, dropped off radar shortly after it took off from the resort of Sochi.

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Fragments of the Soviet-designed three-engine plane were later found by rescuers about 1.5 kilometers from the shore in waters around 50 to 70 meters deep. No survivors have been reported.

Citing an anonymous source, Russian media said that preliminary data indicated that the plane crash was caused by a technical malfunction.

According to the Russian defense ministry, the plane was supposed to deliver Russian personnel and artists from Russia's official military choir, the Alexandrov Ensemble, to a New Year concert for troops and air force servicemen based at the Khmeimim air base near Latakia in Western Syria.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is aware of the plane crash and was being kept abreast of the search efforts. Authorities have also launched a criminal investigation to determine whether safety breaches led to the fatal crash.

Meanwhile, there have been several Tu-154 aircraft crashes in the past. In 2010, several high-ranking Polish officials including then President Lech Kaczynski perished when a Tu-154 plane crashed down in foggy weather while approaching western Russia's Smolensk airport.

TagsRussia, Alexandrov Ensemble