Parts of crashed Russian plane found in Black Sea

Russian rescuers found on Monday the first parts of the Syria-bound military plane that plunged into the Black Sea, as officials said they do not suspect terrorism as the reason for the crash that killed 92 people on board.

A spokeswoman for the Sochi-based search and rescue branch of the emergency ministry confirmed that parts of the plane had been found underwater.

"The debris is at the depth of 27 metres one mile from shore," spokeswoman Rimma Chernova told AFP.

The Russian military added that divers had retrieved "two elements of the plane's control mechanism."

The Tu-154 jet, whose passengers included more than 60 members of the Red Army Choir, was heading to Moscow's military base in Syria when it went down off the resort city of Sochi shortly after take-off on Sunday.

Investigators have yet to confirm the cause of the crash with Russia's federal security service saying it is looking into four suspected causes of the crash, which do not include terrorism, despite the plane and its black boxes still being underwater.

"No signs or facts pointing to a possible act of terror have been received at this time," Russia's Federal Security Service said in a statement carried by national news agencies.

The probe is focusing on a pilot error, a technical fault, bad fuel and a foreign object in the engine as four main scenarios, it added.