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Aircraft carrying bodies of Tu-154 crash victims on its way to Moscow

The military transport aircraft carrying the bodies of 10 victims and 86 body fragments has left for Moscow where they will be identified, the Defense Ministry said

MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/. The Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft carrying ten bodies of the Tu-154 crash victims has left from Sochi to Moscow, the press service of the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Monday.

"The Il-76 military transport aircraft carrying the bodies of 10 victims and 86 body fragments has left for Moscow where they will be identified and the DNA test will be carried out by experts of the Forensic medical examination bureau and 111th Judicial Expert and Forensic Center of the Russian Defense Ministry," the press service said. 

Part of the remains of those killed in the Tu-154 crash may be beyond the border with neighboring countries, Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov, who leads the government commission probing into the crash, said on Monday.

"Yesterday, I got in touch with the president and prime minister of the Republic of Abkhazia, as the stream from the supposed crash site is directed towards the state border, and presumably part of the fragments may cross the border," Sokolov told a meeting of the commission broadcast live by the Rossiya 24 TV channel. "That is why our Abkhaz counterparts are ready to use their search means as part of this search and rescue operation."