Russian military plane carrying Red Army Choir crashes into Black Sea at Christmas

A RUSSIAN military aircraft carrying 92 people, including the members of the famed Red Army choir, has crashed into the Black Sea. 

The defence force Tu-154 vanished from radar shortly after take-off from the Sochi military base at approximately 5.40am local time on Christmas Day.

A spokesman for the defence ministry has said that pieces of the plane had been found 1.5 kilometres from the shore. There are no reports of survivors and the working assumption is that a technical glitch caused the crash. 

There were 84 passengers, including the Alexandrov Ensemble which was due to perform for Russian air force members based in Syria at a New Year’s Eve celebration.

Other passengers included nine journalists and army officials, alongside eight crew members.