An aircraft carrying the players of a top Russian ice hockey club crashed near Yaroslavl on Wednesday, killing at least 43 people including all but one of the team's players and fuelling further concerns about the safety of Russia’s aviation industry.
Wednesday’s crash came a day before President Dmitry Medvedev was due to address an international political forum in Yaroslavl, a plan that was in flux last night, according to the president’s spokeswoman. Vladimir Putin immediately sent Russia’s transportation minister to the scene, while Vladislav Surkov, the Kremlin’s deputy chief of staff and a master fixer, was also reported to be en route to the city.
Details were still emerging about the Yak-42 crash late on Wednesday, with Russian newswires reporting that the aircraft had been unable to reach cruising altitude. The weather in Yaroslavl had been clear and sunny. The aircraft was built in the 1990s.
Passengers included 37 members of Yaroslavl’s Lokomotiv hockey team, which had been on its way to a Kontinental Hockey League competition in Minsk, Belarus. Officials said one player, Alexander Galimov, and a crew member had survived the impact.
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl is a leading force in Russian hockey and came third in the league last year.
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