The plane, operated by Armavia, had been making a short flight of about an hour from the Armenian capital Yerevan. Most of the passengers were Armenian nationals.

Some passengers' relatives, hoping to collect the victims' bodies and bring them home, had arrived at Sochi's airport on board a special flight from Yerevan organized by the airline.

Mostly men, they huddled around a list of victims posted on a noticeboard in the airport terminal.

Ambulances were waiting on the kerb outside the terminal in case any of the relatives needed medical assistance.

VANISHED FROM RADAR

Russia's Foreign Ministry said 26 of the passengers were Russian passport holders and almost all the rest were Armenians. The plane was carrying at least five children.

"We're calling it suspicious in origin," he said in a street news conference two blocks from the scene. "The buildings were fully involved with fire when the first units arrived. That plus the fact that it started early in the morning are indications of a suspicious fire."

Eighty units and more than 400 firefighters joined the battle, using several tower ladders on three street sides while five fireboats pumped water on the flames from the East River, a technique the department calls "surround and drown."

More than 6 million gallons of water were poured on the blaze, Scoppetta said, and the fire was "holding but not under control" by noon, more than six hours after it erupted. The ninth alarm was posted about an hour later.

Scoppetta and Chief of Department Peter Hayden said eight firefighters had suffered minor injuries but no civilians were hurt, nor was there any need to evacuate the area. Scoppetta identified the warehouse owner as Joshua Guttman, but had no other information.

John Mulligan, a department spokesman, said the fire was the biggest, exclusive of the World Trade Center, since a 19-alarm fire at Brooklyn's St. George Hotel in 1995. He said the WTC disaster was so large that the department quit counting alarms.

The site is on the waterfront in Brooklyn's Greenpoint neighborhood, a mixture of 19th century and small shipping and manufacturing firms. The famed Civil War ironclad, USS Monitor, was built in a shipyard that adjoined the warehouse property. The nearest homes are at least a block away.

The flames were clearly visible from the east side of Manhattan, where rubberneckers slowed morning rush hour traffic on the FDR Drive past the United Nations buildings. The acrid smoke, smelling at times of wood, rose in a huge black cloud visible for miles.

The fire started just after 5:30 a.m. and blazed furiously for six hours. At midmorning, the partial collapse of the largest of the seven warehouses caused utility wires to tug on nearby poles, one of which vibrated as if about to split. The crashing brick walls left only the corners of the five-story building still standing. Flames also spread to a storage lot where at least one rental truck was destroyed.

Area residents, watching from behind yellow tape, said the warehouses were destined to be torn down, for a park or other development. Some parts of Brooklyn's long-neglected waterfront have been targeted for new housing or other purposes.

"They're going to save a lot of money on demolition," said Yuda Geller, a real estate agent who lives in Greenpoint.

"A block away, you could feel the heat," said Filip Mielnicki, 17, a neighbor watching the blaze with his friend, 18-year-old Wojciech Wasilewski.

The two, students at Manhattan's High School for Environmental Studies, said they had often "hung out" in the warehouse that caved in. It contained a lot of old clothing and boxes of blank checks but was otherwise unused, Mielnicki said.

They, among others, remarked on the smoke cloud's resemblance to the pillar that drifted across Brooklyn for two days after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center's twin towers.

Fire officials said the warehouse complex on West Street between Quay and Noble streets - measuring 200 feet by 800 feet - was officially unoccupied, though it was unclear whether squatters were living there. Bales of cloth burned in one of the warehouses, Scoppetta said.

Shelton was with St. Clair County detectives when they found Reeves in a park in Belleville. She survived in the woods for 30 hours before she was found.

"They worked all night, never let up, and they found her and they saved her life," St. Clair County Sheriff Mearl Justus said. "It's that simple."

Police said Shelton apparently used his forearm to break Reeves' neck.

The report said Shelton has experience wrestling other people and was due to wrestle at the South Broadway Athletic Club on May 13.

On the club's Web site, it said Shelton's signature move is a diving head-butt from the top rope.

"We're shocked, our entire school community is shocked by this situation, by the charges being filed against Mr. Shelton," Freeburg Superintendent Andrew Lehman said.

Shelton faces charges of attempted first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping in the attack.

Ashley Reeves remains in serious condition. However her uncle died of a heart condition after learning of his niece's ordeal.

Police said the Shelton and Reeves apparently had a relationship, Local 6 News reported.