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

 

ice hockey team dead

At least 45 people died on Wednesday afternoon when a plane carrying the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl ice hockey team crashed during take-off near Yaroslavl, some 250 km from Moscow, emergencies officials said.
Two people survived the crash, investigators said. The cause of the accident has not yet been established.
Eight members of the crew were among the dead.
The Yak-42 plane was carrying the team to Minsk, the Belarusian capital, for the start of the new Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). The side is coached by Canadian Brad McCrimmon, a former Detroit Red Wings assistant.

The plane crashed at 4:00 p.m. Moscow time (noon GMT).
The plane fell to earth straight after take-off and burst into flames.
"Passenger body parts were found in the Volga River, where part of the fuselage fell," a police source said.
President Dmitry Medvedev, who was due to take part in a political forum in Yaroslavl on Thursday, has expressed his condolences to the families of the victims. His press-secretary said Medvedev would visit the site of the crash.
One of the survivors was Russian national side player Alexander Galimov. The other was a member of the crew, a club official said. Galimov is reported to have suffered burns on 80% of his body.

Lokomotiv has a number of former NHL stars on the books, including former Minnesota Wild and Vancouver Canucks centre Pavol Demitra, Josef Vasicek, also a centre formerly with the New York Islanders and Carolina Hurricanes, and Belarusian defenseman Ruslan Salei, formerly of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Colorado Avalanche and the Red Wings.
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, founded in 1949 as the team of the Railways Ministry, is one of Russia’s leading hockey teams and came runner up in the nascent Kontinental Hockey League in 2008 and 2009. In 1997 it took the Russian Superleague title and won back-to-back championships in 2002 and 2003. It was one of the favorites for this year’s Kontinental Hockey League.
Alexander Medvedev, the president of the KHL, said authorities would act to ensure there was top-flight hockey in Yaroslavl.
“I want to reassure you that we will do everything possible to make sure hockey of the highest level continues in Yaroslavl, and that Lokomotiv remains one of the KHL’s strongest clubs,” said Medvedev in televised comments. He was addressing the crowd before the season-opening game between reigning champion Salavat Yulaev and Atlant in the city of Ufa. The game was cancelled as news of the disaster broke.
Russia has a poor aviation safety record. President Dmitry Medvedev has promised to take Soviet-era planes out of service from next year. The Yak-42 has been in service since 1980.

Wreckage of Russian Yak-42 jet, carrying a top ice hockey team

Wreckage of Russian Yak-42 jet, carrying a top ice hockey team, seen near the city of Yaroslavl, on the Volga River about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, …more  Sept. 7, 2011. A Russian jet carrying a top ice hockey team crashed while taking off Wednesday in western Russia, killing at least 36 people and leaving one critically injured, officials said.The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said the Yak-42 plane crashed immediately after leaving an airport near the city of Yaroslavl, on the Volga River about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of Moscow. It said one person survived the crash with grave injuries.(AP Photo/Misha Japaridze)

Russian jet carrying hockey team crashes, 43 dead

A Russian jet carrying a top ice hockey team crashed into a river bank while taking off Wednesday, killing at least 43 people and leaving two others critically injured, officials said. It was one of the worst crashes ever involving a sports team.
The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said the Yak-42 plane crashed in sunny weather immediately after leaving an airport near the western city of Yaroslavl, on the Volga River about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of Moscow.
It said the plane was carrying the Lokomotiv ice hockey team from Yaroslavl to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where it was to play on Thursday against Dinamo Minsk in the opening game of the season of the Kontinental Hockey League. It was carrying 45 people, including 37 passengers and eight crew, and two people survived, officials said.

The jet carrying the Lokomotiv ice hockey team from Yaroslavl crashed while taking off.

It wasn't immediately clear which players were on board the Yak-42. Officials said player Alexander Galimov survived the crash along with a crewmember.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin immediately sent the nation's transport minister to the site, 10 miles (15 kilometers) east of Yaroslavl.
The plane that crashed was relatively new, built in 1993, and belonged to a small Yak Service company.
Swarms of police and rescue crews rushed to Tunoshna, a picturesque village with a blue-domed church on the banks of the Volga River. One of the plane's engines could be seen poking out of the river and a flotilla of boats combed the water for bodies. Russian rescue workers struggled to heft the bodies of large, strong athletes in stretchers up the muddy, steep riverbank.
One resident, Irina Pryakhova, saw the plane going down, hearing a loud bang and then seeing a plume of smoke.
"It was wobbling in flight, it was clear that something was wrong," she said. "I saw them pulling bodies to the shore, some still in their seats with seatbelts on."
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl is a leading force in Russian hockey and came third in the KHL last year. The team's coach is Canadian Brad McCrimmon, who took over in May. He was most recently an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings, and played 18 years in the NHL for Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, Hartford and Phoenix.
The Russian team also featured several top European players and former NHL stars, including Slovakian forward and national team captain Pavol Demitra, who played in the NHL for the St. Louis Blues and Vancouver Canucks.

Other top names include forward Josef Vasicek of the Czech Republic, Czech defenseman Karel Rachunek, Russian defensemen Ruslan Salei and Karlis Skrastins, and Swedish goalie Stefan Liv.
The KHL is an international club league that pits together teams from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Slovakia. Lokomotiv was a three-time Russian League champion in 1997, 2002-2003. It took bronze last season.
A cup match between hockey teams Salavat Yulaev and Atlant in the central Russian city of Ufa was called off midway after news of the crash was announced by Konintental Hockey League head Alexander Medvedev. Russian television broadcast images of an empty arena in Ufa as grief-stricken fans abandoned the stadium.
"We will do our best to ensure that hockey in Yaroslavl does not die, and that it continues to live for the people that were on that plane," said Russian Ice Hockey Federation President Vladislav Tretyak.
President Dmitry Medvedev has announced plans to take aging Soviet-built planes out of service starting next year. The short- and medium-range Yak-42 has been in service since 1980 and about 100 are still working for Russian carriers.
In June, another Russian passenger jet crashed in the northwestern city of Petrozavodsk, killing 47 people. The crash of that Tu-134 plane has been blamed on pilot error.
In other plane crashes involving sports teams, 30 members of the Uruguayan rugby club Old Christians were killed in a crash in the Andes in 1972.
The entire 18-member U.S. figure skating team died in a crash on their way to the 1961 world championships in Brussels.
In 1949, the Torino soccer team lost 18 players near Turin, while the Munich air crash of 1958 cost eight Manchester United players their lives.