MOSCOW, December 26. /TASS/. The search area at the Tu-154 plane crash site has been divided into 15 sectors, the seabed in seven of the sectors has been examined, the press service of Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Monday.
"The search operation area is divided into 15 sectors. The examination of the sea surface has been completed while the seabed has been examined in seven sectors," the press service noted.
Tu-154 fragments scattered at sea bottom with radius of 500 meters, according to the ministry.
Divers have recovered two elements of the crashed Tu-154 plane’s control mechanism from the Black Sea bed.
"Divers have found the plane’s debris on the seabed in the area of the search operation at a distance of 1,700 meters from the coastline along the axis of the plane’s takeoff," the press office said.
The acoustic devices have determined the radius of the Tu-154’s debris dispersion in this area, which equals about 500 meters. The divers have already lifted two elements of the plane’s control mechanism," the press office said in a statement.
Rumors about life victims wearing life vests
The rumors saying the passengers of the Tupolev-154 passenger plane, lost over the Black Sea early last Sunday morning, had life vests on have nothing to do with the reality, the Russian Defense Ministry has said.
"All rumors attributed to anonymous sources to the effect the passengers of the lost plane had allegedly life vests on are shameful insinuations that have nothing to do with the reality. From the very first hours of the tragedy the Russian Defense Ministry and the other federal agencies and services concerned have been providing exhaustive and impartial information about progress in the search operations to the mass media.
As the Defense Ministry said, the serial number plates have helped establish that they belong to the Tu-154 plane that took off from Adler on December 25.