Headlines 1200 25th December 2016

MOSCOW: A Russian military plane headed to Syria has disappeared from radar after taking off from the southern city of Adler, local news agencies reported the defence ministry as saying on Sunday.

The ministry said that there are 91 people onboard and that search and rescue groups had been dispatched to locate the missing Tu-154.

The plane had departed at 5:40 am local time (0240 GMT) from Adler, south of the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, and was conducting a routine flight to Russia’s Hmeimim airbase outside the coastal Syrian city of Latakia, the ministry said.