Russian airliner in fatal crash near Yaroslavl

[Gerald]

The Yak-42 has a capacity of more than 100 passengers.

An airliner carrying a major league ice hockey team has crashed in Russia killing 43 people.

Reports said the plane burst into flames shortly after taking off from an airport at the city of Yaroslavl, about 250km (160 miles) north-east of Moscow.

Members of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team were on board the plane on their way to Minsk in Belarus.

Officials said two people were unaccounted for after the crash, the cause of which has not been confirmed.

The hockey team had been due to play Dinamo Minsk in the opening game of the season of the Kontinental Hockey League on Thursday.

The team includes players from Germany, Sweden, and Slovakia as well as Russia. It was not clear how many of the fatalities were members of the team.

The plane, a Yak-42, had a capacity of more than 100 passengers, but it is thought only 45 people were on board.

A local policeman told the BBC Russian service he had seen the plane come down.

He said the plane had barely taken off before it plunged to the ground, and he saw "flames as high as a nine-storey building".

The country has a poor aviation safety record. In July this year a passenger plane crashed in northern Russia and 44 people died.

President Dmitry Medvedev has promised to overhaul the industry and take out of service ageing jets from the Soviet era.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14822582


Note: 7 September 2011 Last updated at 14:38 GMT