ID Work Continues After Russia Jet Crash

By SERGEI VENYAVSKY

SUKHA BALKA, Ukraine – Authorities on Friday released the remains of dozens of victims of a passenger jet crash that killed all 170 people aboard in the third airline disaster this year in the former Soviet Union.

Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin said relatives have been able to make preliminary identifications of 52 bodies, and more than 30 of those were flown to St. Petersburg for burial.

More than 100 relatives of victims also returned from Ukraine on Friday, while others stayed as the grim process of identification continued.

The relatives all have been asked to give blood samples for cases where DNA analysis was required. Russia’s Channel One television reported that some relatives were too grief-stricken to identify remains in person, preferring to rely on DNA.

Investigators are focusing on weather conditions, including lightning and turbulence, as the possible cause for Tuesday’s crash, which killed all those aboard the Russian airliner, including 45 children. The plane had been flying from Anapa – a holiday destination on the Russian Black Sea coast – to St. Petersburg.

The pilot sent repeated distress signals during a severe thunderstorm before the Pulkovo Airlines’ Tu-154 disappeared from radar screens.

St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko, who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, a Black Sea resort where Putin spends part of the summer, said 96 victims were from her city.

She said the city would provide relatives of victims with about $3,700 and indicated there also would be compensation from the airlines and federal government.

Investigators combing the site found 171 bodies and one fragment but authorities couldn’t explain the discrepancy with the flight list – which registered 160 passengers and 10 crew – saying expert analysis would be required.