Currently terrain is being combed. According to her, 675 people are engaged in the effort. The search is conducted over an area of 25 square kilometres. Two helicopters are on standby.
The search in the Tula region, where a Tu-134 crashed, has neared its completion, Igor Levitin, Russia's Transport Minister and chairman of the commission investigating the causes of the August 25 air disasters, told reporters in Moscow's Vnukovo airport on Thursday before flying to the place of the crash.
He also said that not all the flight recorders of the crashed planes are in good condition. "The tape needs to be put in a condition when it is possible to decode it in full," Levitin said.
He emphasised that all leads are being considered as before, the leads Vladimir Ustinov, Russia's Prosecutor-General, mentioned on the day before at a conference chaired over by the Russian president.
"Several options are being examined, including a terrorist attack and others - technical, and involving the human factor. None of them is currently rejected," Ustinov said.
The transport minister also believes that "it is too soon to give preference to any of the leads".
"All members of the state commission have flown to Tula, to the scene of the crash, and then to Rostov-on-Don," Levitin said.
According to him, the main task of the commission is to sustain the families of the dead, coordinate efforts with local authorities, and establish contact with investigating teams.
Levitin emphasised that it was Russian President Vladimir Putin who had set the commission with the task of rendering assistance to the families of the victims.
Vladimir Yakovlev, a presidential envoy in the Southern Federal District, has gone to the place of the tragedy in the Rostov region.
The two planes crashed late on the evening of August 24. The Tu-134, which was on the Moscow-Volgograd flight from Domodedovo, disappeared from radar screens at 10:56 p.m. Moscow time on Tuesday, in the area of the populated centre of Buchalki, Klimov district, Tula region (Central Federal District). The plane was carrying 35 passengers and eight crew members.
The Tu-154, which was on flight No. 1047, Moscow-Sochi, from Domodedovo, crashed at 10:35 p.m. Moscow time 138 kilometres from Rostov-on-Don (Southern Federal District). It was carrying 46 people, including eight crew.
