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Russian hockey team's jet crashes, killing 36
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| FunkyCrew |
| quote: | MOSCOW — A Russian jet carrying a local hockey team crashed Wednesday while taking off in western Russia, killing 36 people and leaving one critically injured, officials said.
The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said the Yak-42 crashed immediately after taking off from an airport near the city of Yaroslavl, on the Volga River, 240 kilometres northeast of Moscow. It said one person survived the crash with grave injuries.
The ministry said the plane was carrying the Lokomotiv hockey team from Yaroslavl.
The team was heading to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where it was to play Thursday against Dinamo Minsk in the opening game of the season of the Continental Hockey League. The CHL is a league of several ex-Soviet countries.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin immediately sent his transport minister to the site of the crash, 15 kilometres east of Yaroslavl.
Former NHLers on the team roster include Pavol Demitra and Ruslan Salei and the coach in Canadian Brad McCrimmon. But it was not known whether they were on board the plane.
McCrimmon, 52, is a native of Saskatchewan. He played defence for six NHL teams -- Boston, Philadelphia, Calgary, Detroit, Hartford and Phoenix from 1979-80 to 1996-97.
He played 1,222 regular season games in the NHL, collecting 81 goals, 322 assists and 1,416 penalty minutes.
McCrimmon was an assistant coach with the New York Islanders, Calgary Flames, Atlanta Thrashers and Detroit Red Wings. He also served as head coach of the Western Hockey League's Saskatoon Blades.
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. |
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| Spin Laden |
yeah, just caught that just now.
Last year was a golden year for hockey: Olympics, Original Six wins Cup, etc. This year hockey has been cursed it seems, from its top player having concussion issues to the Van riots to these deaths.
With the amount of flying in pro sports, I'm a bit surprised it hasn't happen sooner. |
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| FunkyCrew |
| quote: | MOSCOW — At least 44 people were killed Wednesday when a Russian jet carrying hockey players to their first match of the season crashed on takeoff in the latest blow to the country’s tainted air safety record.
The Yak-42 passenger jet took off from Yaroslavl airport about 300 kilometres northeast of Moscow just as a two-day political forum expected to be attended by President Dmitry Medvedev got under way.
A source told Interfax that the plane suddenly start listing to the left and crashed about 500 metres away from the Tunoshna airport.
“According to the latest data, there were 45 people on board — 37 passengers and eight crew. Forty-four people died in the crash and one person survived,” a police official told the RIA Novosti news agency.
The local emergencies ministry said the jet was taking members of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl ice hockey team to the Belarus capital Minsk for the their first match of the 2011-2012 season.
The team is coached by Canadian Brad McCrimmon and has several foreign players on the roster posted on its website.
Former NHL star Pavol Demitra’s agent, Matt Keator, confirmed to the Associated Press that his client was one of the players killed in the crash.
“This is just awful,” Keator said. “He was such a popular guy with everyone he has ever played with.”
The Czech Republic’s Josef Vasicek, Jan Marek and Karel Rachunek, as well as Swedish Olympic champion Stefan Liv have also been confirmed to have died in the crash.
Two accidents involving Tu-134 and An-24 jets this summer that killed a total 54 people prompted Medvedev to call for most of the aircraft to be retired by January 1 and the rest taken out in subsequent months.
But that move was followed by a series of smaller air accidents as well as a Volga River boat disaster that killed 122 people who were taking a pleasure cruise.
The accidents have tarnished Medvedev’s vision of a modern Russia that he promotes in messages ahead of presidential elections next year that can be also contested by Vladimir Putin — his more nationalist mentor and prime minister.
Medvedev was due to speak at the forum on Thursday and sent his top political adviser Vladislav Surkov to the scene of the disaster.
A Kremlin spokeswoman said Medvedev himself would arrive in Yaroslavl later Wednesday.
Conference participants also held a minute of silence while the country’s hockey season kicked off with a somber message from the deputy head of Gazprom — the company that sponsors Russia’s Continental Hockey League (KHL).
“I propose that we honour the memory of the dead with a minute of silence,” Gazprom number two Alexander Medvedev said at the season opening in the Ural Mountains city of Ufa.
The match was later abandoned to applause from the crowd.
Three-time Russian champion Lokomotiv Yaroslavl was founded in 1959 and last won the country’s title in 2002
“I am at the airport right now,” the team’s general manager Yury Lukin told the R-Sport news agency.
“I do not know what they are saying on the news, but things here are very serious,” he said.
The start of Russia’s ice hockey league has been delayed in the wake of Wednesday’s crash.
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl were scheduled to start their new KHL season on Thursday with a match at Minsk against local side Dynamo.
The club, which was founded in 1959, won the Russian title in 1997, 2002 and 2003, clinching the league’s silver medal in 2008 and 2009.
Yaroslavl also won bronze medals of the Russian league in 1998, 1999, 2005 and 2011 |
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| Magnetonium |
At least a couple Russian players who represented their country in 2010 Winter Olympics were on that plane. |
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| GGM |
| quote: | Originally posted by Spin Laden
Last year was a golden year for hockey: Olympics, Original Six wins Cup, etc. This year hockey has been cursed it seems, from its top player having concussion issues to the Van riots to these deaths.
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Don't forget the 3 enforcer deaths in the last few months and the now stronger than ever "get fighting out of hockey" argument... |
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| Spin Laden |
| yup, that's what I meant by deaths. Heck, proponents may lump the Probert death in there too. |
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| FunkyCrew |
the reports of who was on the plane/survived are super confusing for now..
apparently one guy left for Minsk a day earlier |
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| jester |
| quote: | Originally posted by Spin Laden
With the amount of flying in pro sports, I'm a bit surprised it hasn't happen sooner. |
You sound like George Constanza
GEORGE: But if you think about it...26 teams, 162 games a season, you'd think eventually an entire team would get wiped out.
Episode 34 - The Boyfriend |
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| Spin Laden |
| I hump my pillow thinking about Marrissa Tomei as well :p |
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| Ferg |
| Note to self. Never fly on a russian airline |
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| geroin |
| quote: | Originally posted by Ferg
Note to self. Never fly on a russian airline |
i flew on russian airline many times and its not any worse than any other airline. |
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