Families identify Ukraine plane crash victims

Authorities prepared 33 bodies to be sent to Russia today as relatives continued to identify victims of the crash of a Russian passenger plane in Ukraine, which killed all 170 people on board.

The Pulkovo Airlines’ Tu-154 was en route from Anapa, a holiday destination on the Russian Black Sea coast, to St Petersburg when it hit a severe thunderstorm over Ukrainian airspace on Tuesday, and crashed after sending repeated distress signals.

Investigators were still trying to determine the cause, and have pinpointed difficult weather conditions as a possibility. Terrorism has been ruled out.

Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin said relatives had been able to make preliminary identifications of 52 bodies, but only 33 were ready for immediate transport home.

The identification process continued almost all night, and was under way again this morning. The first flight carrying remains back to St. Petersburg was expected to take off later today.

The relatives have all been asked to give blood samples for cases where DNA analysis is required. The dead were primarily residents of St. Petersburg, and many included entire families.

Levitin also said there were five foreign nationals: two each from the Netherlands and Finland and one German.

The official flight list registered 160 passengers and 10 crew. The two flight recorders, also found, are being studied in Russia.