MOSCOW — At least 77 people were on board a Russian airliner en route from Tel Aviv to Siberia that apparently exploded Thursday before plunging into the Black Sea, Russian officials said.
The plane went down 114 miles off the Russian coastal city of Adler, located on the Georgian border, said Vasily Yurchuk, a spokesman of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
It was not immediately clear if the crash was linked to the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington. Russian officials said they were investigating the cause, but could not rule out a terrorist attack.
The plane, a Tupolev 154, was on its way from Israel to the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Yurchuk said. It belonged to Sibir Airlines, which is based in Novosibirsk.
Deputy Transport Minister Karl Ruppel told The Associated Press that a crew of an Armenian airliner in the area informed Russian air traffic controllers in Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia they saw an explosion aboard a plane flying nearby.
The Emergency Situations Ministry said there were at least 66 passengers and 11 crew members aboard.
The plane had made a stopover in Burgas in Bulgaria, where it apparently took on more passengers, Vladimir Kofman, an official with the Interstate Aviation Committee, which is in charge of investigating crashes in the former Soviet republics.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was immediately informed of the crash, presidential press spokesman said, according to the Interfax news agency.
Putin called the head of the Federal Security Service and the Defense Minister to the Kremlin. He named Vladimir Rushailo, head of the Security Council, to head the investigation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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