The Tu-154 crashed in eastern Ukraine en route from a Russian Black Sea resort to St. Petersburg. The St. Petersburg-based Pulkovo Airlines, which owns the plane, said that all 170 people on board, including 45 children, were killed. Other sources suggested that 171 passengers and crew lost their lives.
Lyudmila Matviyenko said identifying the bodies was a difficult process given the circumstances of the accident. She also said the city administration and Pulkovo Airlines will pay funeral expenses.
"Identification will take about a week," Matviyenko said. "As soon as it is completed, funerals will begin."
The plane was almost completely destroyed after it hit the ground and exploded. Media reports said a small section of the fuselage, the tail, and the engines were the only parts found relatively intact at the scene. Some eyewitnesses said the plane was already ablaze as it came down, but experts working at the scene could not confirm it.
"It [the plane] was spinning as it came down," the popular Russian daily Kommersant quoted local residents who watched the descent. "Then the crew seemed to regain control, but it was too late, the plane crashed into a hill. A terrible explosion sounded, and a fire broke out."
Preliminary reports Tuesday night suggested the plane, which was caught in a storm, might have been struck by lightning that could have affected onboard electronics.
Matviyenko said 133 people from St. Petersburg were killed in the crash. She also said 100,000 rubles ($3,700) will be allocated from the federal budget for each passenger, also promising compensation from city coffers. The airline is also expected to compensate the families.
Citing preliminary reports, a spokesman for Pulkovo Airlines, which until the tragedy had an excellent safety record, said earlier Wednesday that five foreigners - from the Netherlands, Germany, France and Finland - lost their lives.
