Heart-felt Commiseration over Russian aircraft TU-154 Victims

 H.E. President Bashar Al-Assad sent a commiseration telegram to H.E. President Vladimir Putin of Russia over the victims of  The Russian aircraft TU-154.

The Russian aircraft TU-154, which had disappeared from radar shortly after take-off in Sochi Sunday, has crashed in the Krasnodar Region, a source in local security services told RIA Novosti Sunday.

President Assad prayed for the victims as to rest in peace and voiced heart-felt commiseration to the bereaved families.

We assert for you Mr. President that we are partners in the ongoing honorable process against terrorism, aggression and takfirism, said President Assad in his telegram asserting oneness with Russia in happiness as well in sadness.

We do stand with you in this sad moment and offer condolences to the Russian People with prayers for more patience as to overcome  this painful hardship and continue our war against terrorism as to lay the foundations and basics for safety and peace for our two countries and for the entire humanity, underscored President Assad.

The plane with some 92 people onboard, including 84 passengers and eight crew members lost contact with land while flying over the Black Sea, the source said. Journalists, military personnel, musicians from Alexandrov Ensemble, an official army choir of the Russian armed forces, were onboard. “

According to preliminary findings, the missing TU-154 arrived in Sochi from Chkalovsky airport in Moscow region for refueling. Most likely, it crashed in mountainous area of Krasnodar Territory,” the source told RIA Novosti.

The preliminary data shows that the disappeared plane was heading to Syria’s Hmeimim airbase, according to Sputnik.

According to the source, the possible reasons for the alleged crash could be technical malfunction or pilot error. The source added that the plane disappeared from radars 20 minutes after departing from Sochi, Krasnodar Krai.

More than three thousand people participate in search and rescue operations in the Black Sea, at the crash site of Tu-154, the Russia’s Defense Ministry stated. The operations also involve almost 27 ships, 37 divers, four helicopters, drones, deep submergence vehicles, the ministry added.

Ten bodies found at the crash site of the Russian Defense Ministry’s Tu-154, a source in defense and law enforcement agencies told RIA Novosti. Divers discovered the bodies of three more victims.

The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the number of the bodies found at the moment. Earlier, a source in emergency services of the region told RIA Novosti about seven bodies found at the site.

The identification of the remains of those killed in the Tu-154 crash near Sochi would require forensic genetics, chief psychiatrist of the Russian Ministry of Health Zurab Kekelidze told RIA Novosti. He also added that the specialists of the Serbsky State Scientific Center for Social and Forensic Psychiatry would consult experts of the doctors in Sochi, if necessary.

M.A.