MOSCOW Ñ A Russian airliner has crashed into the Black Sea enroute from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk. The Interfax news agency reported that a pilot of an Armenian plane flying in the area said he saw a passenger plane exploding in the air and disintegrating into the sea. Russian officials said crews of at least two planes reported seeing the TU-154 fall, but could not immediately confirm reports that it had exploded.

The Siberian Airlines flight left Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport on Thursday morning with 66 Russian and Israeli passengers, Middle East Newsline reported. The flight made a stopover in Bulgaria. Industry sources said they did not know how many passengers boarded.

A Russian Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman said the three-engine TU-154 belonging to Sibir airline was flying from Israel's Ben-Gurion airport to the Siberian city of Novosibirsk and went down some 110 miles off Russia.

No further details were reported, but the sources said all of the passengers are presumed dead.

It was not clear whether the plane crashed as a result of an accident or a attack. Israeli airport authorities increased security measures in wake of the Sept. 11 Islamic suicide attacks on New York and Washington.

Interfax news agency quoted the domestic FSB security service as saying that an ``act of terror'' on board was one of several theories being investigated because of the tense international situation.

``The information coming from the scene is being investigated now,'' Interfax quoted the FSB as saying. ``Taking into account the latest events in the world, the theory of a terrorist act is being investigated first of all.''

The reference to ``latest events'' was to the international crisis following the September 11 suicide hijacker attacks in the United States in which 6,000 people were killed or feared missing.

The ministry spokeswoman said the sea was 3,000 feet deep where the plane went down.

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