'No Explosion' On Board Crashed Russian Plane
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A full investigation into the reason a Russian Tu-154 plane crashed into the Black Sea will take some time, but preliminary results have ruled out an onboard explosion, investigators told the media on Thursday after scaling down the recovery operation.
“It is apparent that the equipment didn’t work as intended. What caused this is for the experts to establish. A technical commission has been created to do this work. Preliminary results may be available in January 2017,” Russian Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov, who heads the state commission handling the crash, said during a media briefing in Moscow.
Sokolov’s comments somewhat contradicted those of General Lieutenant Sergey Bainetov, the chief of the Russian Defense Ministry’s Flight Safety Service, who said that data from the first flight recorder recovered from the crash site hadn’t pointed to any obvious technical failure.
Responding to a journalist’s question, Bainetov stressed that there was no evidence that an explosion had occurred on the plane.
Sokolov concurred that a more detailed technical analysis was necessary before coming to any conclusions, RT reported.
The minister said that a preliminary report would not be made public until all of the transcripts recovered from the flight recorders have been analyzed. He also asked the media to refrain from speculation or reporting unconfirmed information regarding the investigation.
Rescuers have found 19 bodies and over 230 body parts at the crash site in the Black Sea off Sochi. Identification of those remains will require extensive DNA testing. Gene samples have been taken from the crash victims’ relatives, and testing is already underway, Sokolov said.