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A jet carrying a major Russian ice hockey team to their season-opening match has crashed shortly after take-off, killing at least 43 people, including several former Olympic and NHL stars.
The Yak-42 was flying members of three-time Russian champions Lokomotiv Yaroslavl to a game in the Belarussian capital Minsk on Wednesday when it went down some 300 kilometres (185 miles) northeast of Moscow.
The chief local surgeon told Channel One television that one Russian player, identified as Alexander Galimov, and a crew member had survived but were in grave condition.
The crash occurred near the site of an annual political conference to be attended Thursday by President Dmitry Medvedev ahead of key parliamentary and presidential elections.
Among those killed were the team's Canadian coach Brad McCrimmon -- a former assistant with the NHL's Detroit Red Wings -- goalie and former Swedish Olympic champion Stefan Liv as well as Slovak ex-NHL standout Pavol Demitra.
Three Czech stars -- Jan Marek, Josef Vasicek and Karel Rachunek -- were also among the dead.
Thirty-one-year-old center Marek and 32-year-old defenceman Rachunek were world champions from 2010, while the 31-year-old center Vasicek had a world title from 2005.
Latvian hockey star Karlis Skrastins, 37, who had signed with the Russian team after playing with several in the NHL, was also among the dead. German officials named a victim from Germany, Robert Dietrich.
Thousands of the team's fans flocked to the ice arena in the evening for a candlelight vigil, placing heaps of roses and fan scarves near its walls.
Posted in: Europe,Hockey,World
