Authorities have found one of the flight recorders of the plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski that crashed in western Russia on Saturday, killing all aboard, news agencies reported.
"One of the flight recorders has been found at the scene of the crash," the Interfax news agency quoted a regional government source as saying.
The RIA-Novosti news agency reported that a dirt-covered orange device shown in television footage at the crash scene was a flight recorder from the Tu-154 jet that crashed while attempting to land near Smolensk in western Russia.
Such recorders are often called "black boxes" and are used to reconstruct the chain of events that led to a crash.
Officials have said a total of 96 people were aboard the plane, including Poland's president and other top Polish officials.
Russia's top investigator Alexander Bastrykin and over 40 senior specialists were headed to the scene of the crash, Russia's investigative committee said in a statement.
Kaczynski's Russian-built Tupolev Tu-154 jet had been fully repaired and refurbished in December, the head of the factory that makes the planes said.
"Major repairs on Polish President Lech Kaczynski's Tu-154 plane were carried out in December 2009," Alexei Gusev, director of the Aviakor aircraft factory in Russia's southern city of Samara, was quoted as saying by Interfax.
{{/usCountry}}"Major repairs on Polish President Lech Kaczynski's Tu-154 plane were carried out in December 2009," Alexei Gusev, director of the Aviakor aircraft factory in Russia's southern city of Samara, was quoted as saying by Interfax.
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