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Data recorder found from Russian plane crash that killed 92

The cockpit voice recorder remains missing.

By Ed Adamczyk
A rescue team retrieves debris from the Russian airplane Tu-154 near the coast of Sochi, Russia, on Tuesday. The plane was carrying at least 92 people, including 65 members of a musical group, when it disappeared from radar and crashed into the Black Sea after taking off from an airport in Sochi on Sunday. File Photo by Vladimir Velengurin/Russian Emergency Ministry/European Pressphoto Agency
A rescue team retrieves debris from the Russian airplane Tu-154 near the coast of Sochi, Russia, on Tuesday. The plane was carrying at least 92 people, including 65 members of a musical group, when it disappeared from radar and crashed into the Black Sea after taking off from an airport in Sochi on Sunday. File Photo by Vladimir Velengurin/Russian Emergency Ministry/European Pressphoto Agency

SOCHI , Russia, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Investigators located the flight data recorder of a Russian military plane that crashed Sunday, killing all 92 board, the Russian Defense Ministry announced Tuesday.

The Tu-154 plane was carrying 64 members of the famed Alexandrov Ensemble military choir, as well as humanitarian workers and media crews, to a base used by the Russian air force in Latakia, Syria. It crashed into the Black Sea minutes after takeoff from Sochi, Russia.

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Among those aboard were composer and choir leader Velery Khaliliov and charity activist Elizaveta Glinka, known internationally as Dr. Liza. The passengers were on their way to Syria to participate in Christmas and New Year's concerts and celebrations.

At least 12 bodies, as well as fragments of the plane, have been recovered. The flight data recorder, known as one of two black boxes, was found 1 mile from shore in 55 feet of water. It will be sent to the air force's Central Research Institute in the Moscow suburb of Lyubertsy for analysis. The cockpit voice recorder remains missing, and conversations between the pilot and air traffic controllers revealed no sign of problems.

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More than 45 ships, 15 underwater drones, 192 divers, 12 planes and five helicopters were involved in the search, the ministry said. Terrorism has been ruled out as the cause of the crash, and the investigation is centering on pilot error or technical failure.

A national day of mourning was observed Monday across Russia.

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