Pacific fleet suspends all naval flights, 11 missing in plane crash

The Russian Pacific Fleet has suspended all flights of its naval aviation following the crash of a TU-142 maritime reconnaissance plane in the Far East.

All the 11 crew members were reported missing in the accident with very little hope of any survivors, reports said.

A Tu-142M3 Bear-F plane went down during a combat training flight around 21:19 local time (11:19 GMT) yesterday some 20 kilometers offshore in the Tatar Strait, which separates mainland Russia from the island of Sakhalin, RIA Novosti news agency reported today.

"A special commission is investigating the causes of the crash of the plane, which had 11 people on board," a spokesman for the Russian Pacific Fleet said. "The flights have been suspended until the investigation is complete. The search for the missing crew is still underway," he said.

According to preliminary data, the crash was caused by a technical failure.

The official confirmed that the remains of the plane were found on this morning at the depth of about 144 feet.

A Russian Defence Ministry source earlier said the Navy would deploy, if necessary, the advanced Pantera and Kalmar robotic deep-water rescue vehicles to recover the plane's on-board recording devices.

There is no indication that the crew made use of emergency equipment, a highly-placed Air Force source told RIA Novosti.

"There is a life-raft on board the plane that is fitted with a special device that gives out a signal in the case of an accident," the source said. "At this moment, this search-and-rescue signal has not been detected." The source also said the crew had not made radio contact before the aircraft went down.

A search for the missing crewmembers is underway, although rescue officials have said there is little hope of finding anyone alive.

The source also said if the plane's black boxes were not found within 36 hours of the crash, any information stored on them was unlikely to be retrievable.

"Unfortunately, the construction of the black boxes on this type of plane can only store information for 36 hours in salt water," the source said. Tu-142M3 is a Russian maritime reconnaissance/anti-submarine warfare (ASW) turboprop aircraft. It is a modified version of the Tu-95 Bear strategic bomber. According to sources, Russia's Pacific Fleet has at least eight Tu-142M3 aircraft in service.

Russia has one of the world's worst air safety records, with elderly Soviet-era planes and dated airport facilities

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