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Relatives grieve Russia crash dead
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSMOSCOW, Russia -- Relatives have been struggling to come to terms with the loss of all 170 people aboard an airliner that crashed in Ukraine, as investigators combed the wreckage for bodies and clues to the disaster. The commercial jet -- which had 45 children on board -- crashed in a thunderstorm near Ukraine's border with Russia on Tuesday, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said. The Tupolev Tu-154, belonging to Pulkovo Airlines, went down shortly after the pilot reported a fire on board and heavy turbulence. It was carrying passengers to St. Petersburg from the popular Black Sea resort town of Anapa. Distraught relatives were flown on Friday to the crash site as up to 400 Russian and Ukrainian search teams combed the scene. Workers put bodies in black plastic bags and loaded them on to stretchers for removal from the scene. They also found the "black box" flight recorders at the crash site, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of the city of Donetsk in a hard-to-reach area. Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin said: "The cockpit voice recorder was found several minutes after the first black box containing parametric information was discovered." (Watch what is left of plane after crash -- 1:49) Russia's NTV television said 130 bodies had been recovered so far. The plane, which took off at 3:05 p.m., was flying from the Black Sea resort town of Anapa north to St. Petersburg and crashed around 3:37 p.m. A Ukrainian emergency spokesman, Ihor Krol, said the pilot sent a distress signal about 30 minutes into the flight. Krol, director of Ukraine's Emergency Situations Ministry press service, said when the pilot tried to make an emergency landing, the landing gear would not work. The plane was on fire when the pilot made a belly landing, officials said. Russian television showed a film clip showing flames in the distance along with a vast cloud of smoke. "We all heard a loud rumble and I turned to see the plane beginning to fall ... It hung in the air and then began to hurtle towards the ground. It all lasted about 10 seconds," Yevgeny Donets, in his early 20s, told First Channel, according to Reuters. "We ran to the scene, but you could hardly see for the downpour. Everyone was dead. We made our way through the marshes. There was a big fire and a lot of smoke." Russian and Ukrainian officials appeared to disagree on the possible cause of the crash, with Ukrainians pointing to a fire on board and Russians blaming turbulence. Investigators were looking into the possibility that the plane was hit by lightning. Weather forecasters reported thunderstorms and lightning in the area at the time of the crash. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov to set up a commission to examine the crash, according to Interfax, and has said Thursday would be a day of mourning in his country. Plane a workhorseThe three-engine Tu-154 is the workhorse of Russia's commercial fleet, carrying about half of all Russian air passengers. It was designed as the Soviet counterpart to the Boeing 727 and the European-made Trident, but with the added ability to operate from short, rough runways. About 1,000 were produced. Although a popular aircraft, it has had a checkered history and has been involved in at least 30 air disasters since it went into service in 1968. The former Soviet air fleet has been plagued by chronic safety problems since the 1991 collapse of the country. Experts have blamed poor maintenance, safety violations and cost-cutting for a high accident rate. The incident was the third major plane crash in the region this year. In May an Airbus A320 from Armenia's Armavia airline crashed in the Black Sea as it tried to land in bad weather. All 113 passengers and crew were killed. In July, a Russian Airbus A310 with 195 passengers and eight crew crashed during a domestic flight to Siberia, killing 122 people. CNN's Matthew Chance and Mike Yardley contributed to this report. 
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