GRIEF-STRICKEN relatives of the 113 victims of a Black Sea plane crash scrutinised photographs of bodies pulled from the water in hopes of identifying their loved ones yesterday as search-and-rescue boats plied the waters offshore.

Boats laden with dead bodies and twisted metal sailed into the palm-fringed harbour of Sochi, Russia, today, carrying the remains of some of the 113 people who died when an Armenian airliner smashed into the Black Sea.