Russian military plane crashed on Sunday in the Black Sea as it made its way to Syria with 91 people onboard, including musicians heading to celebrate the New Year with troops.

Axar.az reports that, citing the defence ministry, said the Tu-154 plane had crashed shortly after taking off from the southern city of Adler, south of the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, at 5.40 am local time (0240 GMT).

Among its 83 passengers were Russian servicemen as well as members of the Alexandrov Ensemble, the army's official musical group internationally known as the Red Army Choir, who were headed to Syria to participate in New Year celebrations at the airbase.

There were also eight crew members onboard, the ministry said.

The army band was established in 1928.