Faulty wing flaps to blame

The main flight recorder from the Russian jet that crashed on Sunday has revealed that faulty flaps were to blame, Russian media said.

The flaps, panels on the wings that help lift an aircraft, were not moving together, a source close to the probe told the private Interfax news agency.

Private news outlet Life published what it said was the panicked exchange between the pilots in the moments ahead of the crash decoded from one of the black boxes, suggesting that a problem with the plane's wingflaps might have been to blame.

According to the transcript one pilot shouted "the flaps, shit. What the fuck!" as an alarm sounds. "Commander, we're falling" are the last words recorded, reports AFP.

Russian rescuers trawling the Black Sea yesterday found the second black box from the Syria-bound military plane that crashed with 92 people on board, authorities said.

The rescue workers told state media that the second black box contained the flight parameters, despite contradictory reports over the content of the recorders.

The discovery of the second black box comes as searchers scramble to recover bodies and remaining debris from the aircraft in a major operation involving divers, deepwater machines, helicopters and drones.

The defence ministry told Russian news agencies that so far 15 bodies and 239 body parts from those onboard the ill-fated aircraft have been found, with some of the remains transported to Moscow for DNA identification.

Russia's FSB security service has said it is looking into four main suspected causes: pilot error, technical failure, faulty fuel and a foreign object in the engine. The FSB said that so far there were no indications to suggest terrorism was behind the crash, but did not rule it out entirely.

The loss of the plane has shocked Russia at a time when the Kremlin was celebrating the recapture of Syria's Aleppo by regime forces, the biggest success since it launched its bombing campaign to support President Bashar al-Assad last year.