Russia plane crash kills 36

Moscow (CNN) — A plane carrying Russian, German and Swedish hockey players crashed as it took off Wednesday afternoon from Russia’s Yaroslavl airport, killing 36 people, Russian news agencies reported.
The Yak-42 aircraft was taking members of a professional hockey team to Minsk, the Belarusian capital, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency said.
The Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team — which included players from Germany, Slovakia and Sweden — was scheduled to play a match in the new Kontinental Hockey League, RIA Novosti said.
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl had a number of players with ties to the National Hockey League, according to the NHL website.
They included defensemen Karel Rachunek, Ruslan Salei and Karlis Skrastins as well as forwards Pavol Demitra and Josef Vasicek, the NHL website said. The team’s head coach, Brad McCrimmon, had played in the NHL and was an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings before taking the job in Russia in May.
A forward for the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team, Alexander Vasyunov, played several games for the New Jersey Devils last season, the NHL website said.
A Russian Emergency Situations Ministry representative said there were 45 people on the plane, including eight crew members. It had earlier said 37 people were aboard.
The Russian Federal Aviation Agency said a number of people had survived the crash, but their condition was critical.
A Kontinental Hockey League ice hockey match between Salavat Yulayev and Atlant was halted in the city of Ufa after reports of the crash.
Players from both teams and spectators observed a moment of silence before leaving the stadium. Many in the audience were crying, Russian state TV footage showed.
An aviation agency spokesman, Sergei Izvolsky, told CNN the crash occurred around 4 p.m. (8 a.m. ET) during takeoff because the plane couldn’t reach a safe altitude fast enough.
The aircraft collided with the antenna of the airport beacon, fell to the ground and broke into several pieces and caught fire, Izvolsky said.
It was a charter flight with a plane operated by Yak-Service Airlines, he said. Yaroslavl is about 155 miles (250 kilometers) northeast of Moscow.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev instructed the country’s Investigative Committee and other law enforcement agencies to probe the crash.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin also asked Transport Minister Igor Levitin to go to the scene to organize efforts to examine the cause of the crash, Putin’s press office reported.
The crash came as an international political forum opened in Yaroslavl, with participants expected to include Medvedev, the prime ministers of France, Spain and Italy and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.