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Russia’s Social Insurance Fund to pay 1 million rubles to families of Tu-154 crash victims

MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/. Russia’s Social Insurance Fund will pay insurance compensations of one million rubles (16,340 U.S. dollars) to the families of those killed in the Tu-154 plane crash in the Black Sea near the city of Sochi, director of the Russian Federal Service for Labor and Employment Vsevolod Vukolov told TASS on Sunday.

"The families of those who were in employment relationships will be paid one million rubles from the Social Insurance Fund," he said.

"Aviation insurance payments will be about two million rubles. Families of the servicemen will receive allowance from the defense ministry. Apart from that, families of the crash victims will receive allowances from regions and voluntary insurances, if any," Vukolov said.

A spokesman for the Russian Union od Insurers said earlier that families of servicemen will be paid up to 7.8 million rubles (127,500 U.S. dollars) and families of civilians - three million rubles.

A Tu-154 plane from Russia’s Ministry of Defense vanished from radar screens at 05.40 a.m. Moscow time (02.40 a.m. GMT) shortly after taking off from the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

According to the latest information from Russia's Defense Ministry, there were 92 people on board the aircraft, consisting of 8 crew members and 84 passengers. Among them was the Executive Director of the Fair Aid charity fund, Elizaveta Glinka, also better known to the Russian public as Dr. Liza, as well as servicemen and reporters, including from Channel One, Zvezda and NTV.

The plane was also carrying more than 60 members of the famous Alexandrov ensemble, an official army choir of the Russian armed forces, who set off to celebrate the New Year with the air group of Russia’s Aerospace Forces at the Hmeymim air base in Syria. The choir’s conductor Valery Khalilov was also on the list of passengers.

The Defense Ministry said that debris from the Tu-154 had been found 1.5 km off the coast of Sochi at the depth of 50-70 meters. Some ten dead bodies of the crash victims have been found. It seems no one has survived. A search operation is underway.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to set up and head a government commission to look into the Tu-154 plane crash. The Investigative Committee announced that a criminal case was opened based on "the violation of rules of flights safety or preparation for them."