Опубликовано:
A plane crash in Russia has killed several members of one of the country’s top ice hockey teams, Lokomotiv.
Authorities say at least 45 people were aboard the Yak-42 aircraft. Remarkably, one person was found alive among the wreckage, much of which fell into the river Volga.
Russia’s Interfax news agency says that the plane had trouble gaining altitude and hit an antenna near the runway.
The charter flight came down shortly after take-off near the city of Yaroslavl. It was carrying the team to a match in the Belarussian capital, Minsk.
A number of foreign stars play for Lokomotiv, among them Czech internationals, a Slovak and a Swede. Its head coach is Canadian former Detroit Red Wings assistant Brad McCrimmon.
News of the tragedy came as other teams in the Continental Hockey League (KHL) were playing their first match of the season.
“There has been a terrible tragedy,” KHL president Alexander Medvedev said, stunning spectators and sports officials. He announced a minute’s silence and postponed the match in the city of Ufa.
The crash was Russia’s deadliest since June, when a Tupolev Tu-134 jet slammed into a roadside while trying to land in fog in the northern Russian city of Petrozavodsk, killing 45 people.
