Ice Hockey Team Feared Dead

Members of a top ice hockey team are believed to be among at least 43 people killed when a passenger jet crashed during take-off in western Russia. 

 

Russia's Emergency Situations ministry said the Yak-42 plane came down as it left an airport near the city of Yaroslavl, on the Volga River about 150 miles north east of Moscow.
Two people are reported to have survived but with grave injuries.
Officials said the aircraft was carrying 45 people, including 37 passengers and eight crew.
The ministry said members of the Lokomotiv ice hockey team from Yaroslavl were on board.

The Lokomotiv ice hockey team from Yaroslavl believed to be on board the plane

The team was heading to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where it was to play against Dinamo Minsk on Thursday in the opening game of the season of the Continental Hockey League (KHL).
It is not immediately clear which players were on board but officials have said Alexander Galimov survived the crash along with a member of the crew.
Lokomotiv-Yaroslavl HC has told Sky News that it was its first team travelling on board the plane.
The team has a Canadian coach and Czech, German, Slovakian, Belorussian and Latvian players.

Rescuers work at the crash site on the Volga River

KHL president, Alexander Medvedev, interrupted the opening match of the league's season in the city of Ufa when news of the crash came.
"There has been a terrible tragedy," he explained before announcing a minute's silence and postponing the game.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin immediately sent the nation's transport minister to the site of the crash, 10 miles east of Yaroslavl.
The Russian aviation agency (Rosaviation) has told Sky News that the aircraft was unable to gain height due to technical problems.

The plane crashed near Yaroslavl, around 150 miles north east of Moscow

The plane collided with the airport transmitter, crashed to the ground and burst into flames, the agency added.
The Yak-42 plane model has been in service since 1980 and dozens are still in service with Russian and other airlines.
President Dmitry Medvedev has announced plans to take aging Soviet-built planes out of service, starting next year.
In June, another Russian passenger jet crashed in the north western city of Petrozavodsk, killing 47 people.
The crash of that Tu-134 plane has been blamed on pilot error.

The Russian aviation agency will investigate reports of technical problems