O/T

. A Russian Yak-42 carrying a pro hockey team has clipped an airport tower mast on takeoff and crashed in flames. Forty-five are dead, with two survivors.

‘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, emergency 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.
…….

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.

The club’s entire first team was on board the plane.
// RIA Novosti.