A woman stands in front of monument to Alexander Alexandrov, founder of the Alexandrov Ensemble, near the Alexandrov Ensemble building in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Dec. 26, 2016, the day after a plane carrying 64 members of the Alexandrov Ensemble crashed into the Black Sea minutes after taking off from the resort city of Sochi. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev) 
The names of the victims of a military choir and St. George’s ribbons are placed on candles, in front of the Alexandrov Ensemble building in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Dec. 26, 2016, the day after a plane carrying 64 members of the Alexandrov Ensemble crashed into the Black Sea minutes after taking off from the resort city of Sochi. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) 
In this late Monday, Dec. 26, 2016 frame grab provided by the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry Press Service, the ministry employees lift a fragment of a plane in the Black Sea, outside Sochi, Russia. Rescue workers on Tuesday, Dec. 27, found a flight recorder from the Russian plane that crashed into the Black Sea over the weekend, the defense ministry said. All 84 passengers and eight crew members on the Russian military’s Tu-154 plane are believed to have died Sunday morning when it crashed two minutes after taking off from Sochi. (Russian Emergency Situations Ministry Photo via AP) 
Ministry of Emergency Situations divers prepare for a search for bodies outside Sochi, Russia, Monday, Dec. 26, 2016. All 84 passengers and eight crew members on the Russian military’s Tu-154 plane are believed to have died Sunday morning when it crashed two minutes after taking off from the southern Russian city of Sochi. (AP Photo/Viktor Klyushin) 
Ministry of Emergency Situations employees prepare rescue boats at a pier just outside Sochi, Russia, Monday, Dec. 26, 2016. All 84 passengers and eight crew members on the Russian military’s Tu-154 plane are believed to have died Sunday morning when it crashed two minutes after taking off from the southern Russian city of Sochi. (AP Photo/Viktor Klyushin) 
Ministry of Emergency Situations employees search for bodies by a boat in the waters in the Black Sea, off Sochi, Russia, Monday, Dec. 26, 2016. All 84 passengers and eight crew members on the Russian military’s Tu-154 plane are believed to have died Sunday morning when it crashed two minutes after taking off from the southern Russian city of Sochi. (AP Photo/Viktor Klyushin) 
A woman lights a candle at the well-known military choir’s building in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2016, after a plane carrying 92 people, including 64 members of the Alexandrov Ensemble, crashed into the Black Sea minutes after taking off from the resort city of Sochi. The Russian plane was headed for an air base in Syria, Russia’s Defense Ministry said. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin) 
Ministry of Emergency Situations employees search for bodies by a boat in the Black Sea, off Sochi, Russia, Monday, Dec. 26, 2016. All 84 passengers and eight crew members on the Russian military’s Tu-154 plane are believed to have died Sunday morning when it crashed two minutes after taking off from the southern Russian city of Sochi. (AP Photo/Viktor Klyushin) 
Ministry of Emergency Situations employees monitor computer screens as they search for bodies in the Black Sea, off Sochi, Russia, Monday, Dec. 26, 2016. All 84 passengers and eight crew members on the Russian military’s Tu-154 plane are believed to have died Sunday morning when it crashed two minutes after taking off from the southern Russian city of Sochi. (AP Photo/Viktor Klyushin) 
Ministry of Emergency Situations divers prepare for a search for bodies outside Sochi, Russia, Monday, Dec. 26, 2016. All 84 passengers and eight crew members on the Russian military’s Tu-154 plane are believed to have died Sunday morning when it crashed two minutes after taking off from the southern Russian city of Sochi. (AP Photo/Viktor Klyushin) 
Two soldiers guard Russian rescue boats at a pier just outside Sochi, Russia, Monday, Dec. 26, 2016. All 84 passengers and eight crew members on the Russian military’s Tu-154 plane are believed to have died Sunday morning when it crashed two minutes after taking off from the southern Russian city of Sochi. (AP Photo/Viktor Klyushin) 
Ministry of Emergency Situations employees are searching for bodies outside Sochi, Russia, Monday, Dec. 26, 2016. All 84 passengers and eight crew members on the Russian military’s Tu-154 plane are believed to have died Sunday morning when it crashed two minutes after taking off from the southern Russian city of Sochi. (AP Photo/Viktor Klyushin) 
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to the media upon his arrival to attend a Session of Collective Security Council on Monday, Dec. 26, 2016, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2016. Putin has declared a nationwide day of mourning for victims of the crash of a Russian plane that plunged into the sea with 92 people aboard. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) 
People light candles in memory of victims of the crashed plane in the center of Sochi, Russia, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2016. A Tu-154 operated by the Russian Defense Ministry en route to Syria crashes into the Black Sea minutes after takeoff from Sochi. Everybody aboard the plane are thought to have perished and the cause of the crash is not immediately known. (AP Photo/Viktor Klyushin) 
Russian rescue ships and boats search and collect wreckage from the crashed plane outside Sochi, Russia, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2016. A Tu-154 operated by the Russian Defense Ministry en route to Syria crashed into the Black Sea minutes after takeoff from Sochi. Everybody aboard the plane are thought to have perished and the cause of the crash is not immediately known. (AP Photo/Viktor Klyushin) 
Flowers are offered in front of portraits of Russian TV journalists who were aboard a crashed military plane, displayed at the main TV building in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Dec. 26, 2016. Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov says a pilot error or a technical fault is likely to be the cause of Sunday’s plane crash over the Black Sea. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) 
Russian rescue workers carry a body from the wreckage of the crashed plane, at a pier just outside Sochi, Russia, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2016. Russian ships, helicopters and drones are searching for bodies after a plane carrying 93 people crashed into the Black Sea. The plane was taking the Alexandrov Ensemble, a military choir, to perform at Russia’s air base in Syria when it went down shortly after takeoff. (AP Photo/Viktor Klyushin)
SOCHI, Russia | Rescue workers on Tuesday found a flight recorder from the Russian military plane that crashed into the Black Sea over the weekend, the defense ministry said.
All 92 people aboard the Tu-154 plane are believed to have died Sunday morning when it crashed two minutes after taking off from the southern Russian city of Sochi. The 84 passengers included dozens of singers from Russia’s world-famous military choir who were going to the Russian Air Force base in Syria to perform at a New Year’s concert.
The defense ministry said in a statement that one of the flight recorders was found early Tuesday morning about a mile away from the shore.
State television showed footage of rescue workers on an inflatable boat carrying a container with a bright orange object submerged in water. The ministry said later on Tuesday that the black box was flown to a ministry laboratory outside Moscow and at first examination it did not appear to be seriously damaged.
It was not immediately clear when the data from the black box would be available but Magomed Tolboyev, a decorated Russian test pilot, told the Interfax news agency that investigators could retrieve data from the flight recorder later in the day.
Mourners on Tuesday continued to bring flowers to the pier of Sochi’s sea port as 3,500 people, 45 ships and 192 divers swept the vast crash site for bodies of the victims and debris. Rescue teams so far have recovered 12 bodies and numerous body fragments, which have been flown to Moscow for identification.
Divers found fragments of the fuselage, parts of the engine and various mechanical parts overnight, the defense ministry said.
Officials still have not announced the cause of the crash, but they have been anxious to squelch speculation that it might have been caused by a bomb planted on board or a portable air defense missile.
But some aviation experts have noted that the crew’s failure to communicate any technical problem and the large area over which fragments of the plane were scattered point to a possible explosion on board.
Russia’s main domestic security and counter-terrorism agency, the FSB, said it has found “no indications or facts pointing at the possibility of a terror attack or an act of sabotage on board the plane.”
The FSB said that investigators are looking into bad fuel, pilot error, foreign objects stuck in the engines or equipment failure.
The Tu-154 is a Soviet-built three-engine airliner designed in the late 1960s. The plane that crashed Sunday was built in 1983, and underwent factory check-ups and maintenance in 2014 as well as earlier this year.
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Vasilyeva reported from Moscow.