Tape from 3rd Black Box of downed Russian plane found

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) – Tape from the third black box from the Russian plane which went down into the Black Sea on Sunday was found Thursday, a law enforcement source has said.

"Tape was found from the third black box, indicating that it was destroyed," the anonymous source was quoted as saying by the country’s official TASS news agency.

The source said the tape from the third recorder of the Tu-154 plane was found in the tail section of the submerged aircraft.

It said the tape was "seriously" deformed but was still decipherable.

The other two flight recorders were "satisfactory" and their decoding will be completed "soon" in Moscow, the source added.

The aircraft was en route to Syria’s Latakia to take part in a New Year's concert when it disappeared from radar after taking off from Sochi.

In addition to 64 members of the Red Army Choir or Alexandrov Ensemble, the crash’s 92 victims include eight crew members, nine journalists, eight soldiers, two Defense Ministry officials, and one member of an NGO.