A Russian military aircraft, which crashed in Georgia yesterday, killing all 82 people on board, was carrying women and children among its passengers, Itar-Tass news agency quoted Russian officials as saying.
Officials from a transport ministry department in charge of flight safety said that, according to their information, the Ilyushin-18 aircraft was transporting officers, their wives and children returning from holidays.
The aircraft, with 71 passengers including eight children and 11 crew, crashed near Batumi, the capital of Georgia's autonomous republic of Adzhara, where Russia has a military base.
Georgian regional officials had said earlier that 75 were on board.
The transport aircraft was built by the former Soviet Union in 1958.
