MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/. The parts of fuselage of Tu-154 plane of the Defense Ministry have been found some 1.5 km from the Black Sea coast of Sochi at the depth of up to 70 meters, the ministry said on Sunday.

"The fragments of the fuselage of the Tu-154 plane of Russia’s Defense Ministry have been found 1.5 km from the Black Sea coast of Sochi at the depth of 50-70 meters," the statement said.

The Defense Ministry said the plane disappeared from radars at 05.40 a.m. Moscow time (02.40 a.m. GMT) shortly after taking off from Sochi. There were 91 people onboard the plane, including eight crew members and 83 passengers. Among them were Russian servicemen who flew to congratulate with the New Year the air group of Russia’s Aerospace Forces at the Hmeymim airbase in Syria, musicians of the famed army choir, the Alexandrov Ensemble, and nine representatives of Russian mass media.