Searchers find 1st black box from crashed Russian plane

Russia has found the main flightrecorder from a military plane that crashed into the Black Sea,killing all 92 on board, the Defence Ministry saidTuesdayamid unconfirmed reports that authorities had grounded allaircraft of the same type.

The recorder, one of several reported to be on board,contains information that could help investigators identify thecause ofSunday'scrash, which killed dozens of Red Army Choirsingers and dancers en route to Syria to entertain Russiantroops in the run-up to the newyear.

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Investigators have so far said that pilot error or atechnical fault, rather than terrorism, are most likely to havecaused the Defence Ministry Tupolev-154 to crash into the sea.

The first black box, which was located by aremote-controlled underwater vehicle at a depth of around 17 metres, and 1,600 metres from the resort town of Sochi,will be sent to a Defence Ministry facility in Moscow foranalysis.

"The casing holding the flight recorder is in a satisfactory condition," the ministry said in a statement.

"After it is technically cleaned in distilled water, we will start transcribing it."

The ministry said numerous fragments of the plane had been found, including the engine, the landing gear and pieces of the fuselage.

The Interfax news agency cited an unnamed source as sayingRussia had grounded all TU-154 planes until the cause ofSunday'scrash became clear, but that has not been confirmed officially.

The Defence Ministry says the downed jet, a Soviet-era planebuilt in 1983, had last been serviced in September and underwentmore major repairs in December 2014.

Russian pilots say the TU-154 has a decent safety record,though major Russian commercial airlines have long sincereplaced it with Western-built planes.

The last big TU-154 crash was in 2010 when a Polish jetcarrying then-president Lech Kaczynski and much of Poland'spolitical elite went down in western Russia killing everyone onboard.

Interfax, citing a law enforcement source,said a second flight recorder had also been found in thewreckage ofSunday'scrash, but not yet raised to the surface.

The Defence Ministry said that search-and-rescue teams haveso far recovered 12 bodies and 156 body parts.