Canadian among 43 dead in Russian jet crash

A Russian jet carrying a top hockey team crashed into a river bank Wednesday while taking off in western Russia, killing 43 people, including Canadian coach Brad McCrimmon, ex-Leaf players Igor Korolev and Alexander Karpovtsev and other NHL players.

The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said the Yak-42 crashed in sunny weather immediately after leaving an airport near the city of Yaroslavl, on the Volga River, 240 kilometres northeast of Moscow. Two people, who were critically injured, survived the crash.

It said the plane was carrying the Lokomotiv hockey team from Yaroslavl to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where it was to play Thursday against Dynamo Minsk in the opening game of the season of the Kontinental Hockey League. The ministry said it was carrying 45 people, including 37 passengers and eight crew.

It is the “darkest day in the history of our sport,” International Ice Hockey Federation president Rene Fasel said.

“This is a terrible tragedy for the global ice hockey community with so many nationalities involved,” Fasel said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with family and friends of the victims…Despite the substantial air travel of professional hockey teams, our sport has been spared from tragic traffic accidents. But only until now.”

KHL officials said player Alexander Galimov survived along with a crew member. But the team’s Canadian coach, McCrimmon, and Josef Vasicek and Jan Marek, both of the Czech Republic were among the dead.

McCrimmon took over in May. A native of Saskatchewan, the 52-year-old was most recently an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings, and played 18 years in the NHL for Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, Hartford and Phoenix.

Authorities also told Matt Keator, agent to former NHL star Pavol Demitra, his client was one of the players killed in the crash, but Keator couldn’t confirm the news.

“The whole team was there,” he told CityNews.ca. “I’ve called his cellphone. He hasn’t answered.”

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin immediately sent his transport minister to the site, 15 kilometres east of Yaroslavl.

The plane that crashed was relatively new, built in 1993, and belonged to a small Yak Service company.

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl is a leading force in Russian hockey and came third in the KHL last year.

The team featured several top European players and former NHL stars, including Slovakian forward and national team captain Demitra, who played in the NHL for the St. Louis Blues and the Vancouver Canucks.

Other top names include Czech defenceman Karel Rachunek, Russian defencemen Ruslan Salei and Karlis Skrastins, and Swedish goalie Stefan Liv.

The KHL is an international club league that pits together teams from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Slovakia. Lokomotiv was a three-time Russian League champion in 1997, 2002-2003. It took bronze last season.

Swarms of police and rescue crews rushed to Tunoshna, a picturesque village with a blue-domed church on the banks of the Volga River.

One resident, Irina Pryakhova, saw the plane going down.

“It was wobbling in flight, it was clear that something was wrong,” she said. “It went down behind the trees and there was a bang and a plume of smoke.”

She said rescuers pulled victims’ bodies out of the Volga River.

“I saw them pulling bodies to the shore, some still in their seats with seatbelts on,” Pryakhova said.

Former Montreal Canadien Brent Sopel, who is now playing in Russia, tweeted shortly after the crash: “In shock. Prayers out to all of the KHL families.”

“Though it occurred thousands of miles away from our home arenas, this tragedy represents a catastrophic loss to the hockey world — including the NHL family, which lost so many fathers, sons, teammates and friends who at one time excelled in our league,” said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. “Our deepest condolences go to the families and loved ones of all who perished.”

Added New Jersey Devils president Lou Lamoriello: “Nothing could prepare the hockey community for the devastating news it received today. The tragic plane crash involving Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental Hockey League has left all of us beyond words.”

A cup match between hockey teams Salavat Yulaev and Atlant in the central Russian city of Ufa was called off midway after news of the crash was announced by KHL head Alexander Medvedev.

Russian television broadcast images of an empty arena in Ufa as grief-stricken fans abandoned the stadium.

“We will do our best to ensure that hockey in Yaroslavl does not die, and that it continues to live for the people that were on that plane,” said Russian Ice Hockey Federation president Vladislav Tretyak.

The short- and medium-range Yak-42 has been in service since 1980 and dozens are still in service with Russian and other airlines.

In June, another Russian passenger jet crashed in the northwestern city of Petrozavodsk, killing 47 people. The crash of that Tu-134 plane has been blamed on pilot error.

President Dmitry Medvedev has announced plans to take aging Soviet-built planes out of service starting next year.

With files from The Canadian Press and CityNews.ca