Debris from a Russian military plane which disappeared with 91 people onboard just minutes after take-off from Sochi on Sunday (Dec 25) has been found in the Black Sea, media reports said.

Debris from the plane has been found at a depth of 50-70m, 1.5km from the shore, the information department of the Russian Defense Ministry said according to Russia Today (RT).

The crash happened while the plane was ascending, and the crew didn’t signal anything was wrong, a source told Interfax news agency.

“While examining the water zone located in 6-8km from the seashore, an oil spot was found, and we suppose it could be caused by the plane crash there. Rescue vessels have been sent there,” a source from the local security forces told Interfax.

The Tu-154 plane took off from Sochi Adler Airport on a “planned flight” and failed to check in with the control tower at 5:40am Moscow time, the defence ministry was earlier quoted as saying, adding that all rescue services in the region have been deployed to search for the missing plane.

The ministry said the plane was carrying Russian servicemen as well as members of the Alexandrov Ensemble, the army’s official musical group, who were headed to Syria to participate in New Year celebrations at the base.  
Also on board were nine journalists, the ministry said according to Agence France-Presse.

Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu is coordinating the search efforts via videoconferencing, reported RT. President Vladimir Putin has been alerted of the incident and is getting live updates on the search and rescue effort, the report said, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

-Agencies