Armenia crash data still missing

Russia and Armenia will observe a day of mourning on Friday

Russia says it needs foreign help to retrieve the flight recorders from the Armenian Airbus A320 plane that crashed into the Black Sea early on Wednesday.

A large section of the plane has been located at a depth of 680m (2,200ft), and a signal has been received - believed to be the jet's "black boxes".

Russia lacks equipment for retrieving objects at such depths, officials say.

All 113 people aboard the A320, on a flight from Armenia's capital Yerevan to Sochi in Russia, are feared dead.

The hunt for bodies from the Armavia airlines plane is continuing for a second day, with divers working in rough weather.

I was waiting for a call from my mother that she had arrived OK - but she did not phone, so I phoned myself and heard that this accident had happened Khapet Tadevosyan Victim's relative

So far, at least 49 bodies have been retrieved from the choppy waters and 28 have been identified.

Emergency teams have discovered baggage, life jackets, body parts and pieces of wreckage at the spot where the aircraft plunged into the water.

The cause of the crash is not known but officials say bad weather at the time may have brought it down as it tried to make a second landing attempt.

Key task

"We will turn to other countries that have the experience in raising objects from the depths," Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin said on Thursday.

Relatives' agony In pictures: Armenia crash

He said it was crucial to retrieve the "black boxes" to establish what had happened aboard the plane seconds before it plunged into the sea.

He said he also wanted to compare the recorders' data with a taped radio exchange between the crew and traffic controllers.

Search teams have said the wreckage is spread over a wide area, about six kilometres (3.5 miles) from the shore.

The victims' relatives continued to identify the dead in Sochi's two morgues on Thursday.

Photos of the bodies recovered so far have also been posted in a hotel where the relatives are staying.

Criminal proceedings

The A320 crashed at about 0215 (2215 GMT Tuesday) as it made a second attempt to land at an airport near Sochi.

It was initially refused permission to land because of poor weather.

Both Russia and Armenia have declared a day of mourning on 5 May, the Kremlin said.

The plane had been making a short flight of about an hour from Yerevan.

Most of the passengers were Armenian, but there were also 26 Russian nationals. Among those on board were eight crew and six children.

Armavia, the airline which owned the plane, says that it was in good condition and that the crew were experienced.

The Airbus was manufactured in 1995 and underwent checks last month.

Terrorism has been ruled out as a cause of the disaster, the Russian prosecutor-general's office said.

Criminal proceedings have been launched to investigate whether a violation of air traffic procedures led to loss of life.