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Search effort at Russian plane crash site mostly completed

Associated Press
Published | Updated

In this photo taken on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016 photo provided by the Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service, ministry employees lift a fragment of a plane in the Black Sea, outside Sochi, Russia. Russia's Defense Ministry says search teams have recovered another flight recorder from a military plane that crashed in the Black Sea, killing all 92 aboard. (Vladimir Velengurin/Emergency Situations Ministry Photo via AP) (The Associated Press)

In this photo taken on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016 photo provided by the Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service, ministry employees lift a fragment of a plane in the Black Sea, outside Sochi, Russia. Russia's Defense Ministry says search teams have recovered another flight recorder from a military plane that crashed in the Black Sea, killing all 92 aboard. (Vladimir Velengurin/Emergency Situations Ministry Photo via AP) (The Associated Press)

In this photo taken on Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016 photo provided by the Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service, ministry employees on boats search for fragments of a plane in the Black Sea, outside Sochi, Russia. Russia's Defense Ministry says search teams have recovered another flight recorder from a military plane that crashed in the Black Sea, killing all 92 aboard. (Vladimir Velengurin/Emergency Situations Ministry Photo via AP) (The Associated Press)

Russian officials say search teams have completed the bulk of efforts to recover bodies and debris from a Russian military plane crash that has killed all 92 people on board.

The Tu-154 of the Russian Defense Ministry crashed into the sea Sunday, minutes after taking off in good weather from the city of Sochi. It was carrying members of the Russian army choir to a New Year's concert at a Russian military base in Syria.

Officials are analyzing the plane's flight recorders to determine the cause.

Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said Thursday that 19 bodies and more than 230 body fragments have been recovered. He said that 13 big fragments of the plane and about 2,000 smaller fragments have been pulled from the seabed.