Bodies and debris are presently being recovered from the crash site

Jerusalem----October 4......UPDATED: 23:00 -----A Siberian Airlines jet, flight number 1812, is reported to have exploded over Russia and crashed in a ball of flames into the Black Sea. The aircraft was carrying at least 66 passengers and 12 crew members from Tel Aviv. Of the 66 passengers missing, at least 51 are believed to be Israeli.
There are confliciting reports as to what caused the airliner to crash.

The Russian Federal Security Service originally thought the crash might have been caused by a terrorist act.
CBS News reported a few hours ago that sources at the Pentagon believed that the commerical airliner was struck by one or two missiles. Reports then surfaced that a massive military training exercise being conducted by the Ukrainian Army and Air Force was responsible for "shooting missiles each and every way" and that it was a military accident. The exercise was carried out in Crimea, on Cape Onuk, about 250 kilometres (160 miles) from the site of the crash. It involved firing surface-to-air missiles at unmanned aircraft.

Latest reports coming out of region suggest terrorist activity.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said none of its weapons could have hit a civilian aircraft, and Russian President Vladimir Putin said he had no reason to doubt the denial.

``The weapons that were being used during this exercise could not reach the area where our Tu-154 was flying,'' Putin said. ``What I told you as of this moment is based on what our Ukrainian partners have told us and we don't have any reason not to trust them.''

"All information from the crash scene is being analyzed. The version that it is a terrorist act has been given priority, bearing in mind the recent international developments," a representative of the Federal Security Service's public relations center told Interfax. A Reuters reporter who watched the Ukrainian exercises said surface-to-air missiles were being fired from the east side of the Crimean peninsula at 20 or more airborne drone targets at around the time the plane came down.

Interfax reported a possible explosion on board before the Siberia-bound plane crashed into the sea.

The pilot of an Armenian plane in the area reported seeing a passenger plane exploding in mid-air, according to Interfax. Garik Ovanisian, the pilot of the Armenian plane, was quoted by The Associated Press as saying: "I saw the explosion on the plane, which was above me at an altitude of 11,000 metres (36,790 feet) above the Black Sea. The plane fell into the sea, and there was another explosion in the sea. After that I saw a big white spot on the sea and I had the impression that oil was burning."

File photo of the airliner which crashed today en route to Russia

The Associated Press reported that the plane had crashed into the Black Sea coast, 114 miles (185 kilometers) from the Russian coastal city of Adler, according to the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Russian authorities have dispatched emergency rescue teams by helicopter to the site of the crash. Israel has also dispatched search and rescue aircraft to the disaster site.

The aircraft, a three-engine TU-154, departed Tel Aviv at 10:00 a.m. and made a stopover at Burgas, Bulgaria where it reportedly took on additional passengers.

The flight was scheduled to land in Novosibirsk at 4:00 p.m. Israel time.

According to one report, all of the flight's passengers were Israelis - new immigrants, tourists, and businesspeople.

Relatives of the missing passengers from today's airliner crash gather at Israel's Ben-Gurion airport Photo: AP

A Tel Aviv airport official told Reuters: "All the flights have the same security checks."
Israeli authorities temporarily cancelled all outgoing flights from Ben-Gurion International Airport until the circumstances of the crash have been determined. Resumption of outgoing flights began a few hours ago.

The September 11 attacks have led Washington to declare a "war on terrorism" and prepare military action against the bases in Afghanistan of Islamic militant Osama bin Laden. Interfax quoted the FSB as saying: "Taking into account the latest events in the world, the theory of a terrorist act is being investigated first of all."

Ukrainian Prime Minister Victor Yushchenko has issued a statement (22:00), which effectively distanced himself from the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's denial that its missiles hit the plane that crashed today en route from Israel to Siberia.

President Bush said he was deeply saddened. ``My heartfelt sympathies, and those of the American people, are with the people of Israel and Russia, and the families of the many victims of this tragedy,'' Bush said.
He did not address Putin's contention that the crash may have been the work of terrorists.

Israeli Transport Minister Ephraim Sneh told The Associated Press that it is too early to confirm the crash was an act of terrorism.