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The ice hockey team Lokomotiv killed in the air crash

Some 43 out of 45 people onboard the airplane died in the air crash

MOSCOW, September 8 (Itar-Tass) —— An airplane Yak-42 crashed not far from the airport Tunoshna in the Yaroslavl Region on Wednesday. Some 43 out of 45 people onboard the airplane died in the air crash. The airplane was carrying the ice hockey team Lokomotiv. The main Lokomotiv squad died.

On Wednesday in Yaroslavl after the opening of a political forum, which Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is attending on Thursday, the Yak-42D airplane crashed. The airplane was carrying one of the best Russian ice hockey teams Lokomotiv, the Kommersant writes. Only a flight engineer and a team player survived from 45 people. According to preliminary reports, the airplane crashed due to a malfunction when gaining the speed on the runway. The airliner took off at the very end of the runway and crashed in the Volga tributary soon after that smashing down the beacon antenna.

Rosaviatsia reported that the crashed Yak-42 was produced in 1993, the newspaper noted. The flight certificate was to expire in October 2011, after that the airplane was to pass a repairs. The pilots steering the Yak-42 airplanes believe that the air crash was caused by the breakdown of the power units that occurred expectedly when the airplane was running on the runway.

Komsomolskaya Pravda reported that the airplane crashed only 2.5 kilometers after the takeoff. According to another theory, the airplane failed to gain enough speed on the runway. The Lokomotiv ice hockey team has made flights by this airliner for about ten years.

The detectives will investigate all possible theories of the air crash, the RBC daily cited spokesman of the Investigation Committee Vladimir Markin as saying. Chairman of the Investigation Committee Alexander Bastrykin also departed for the air crash site and will supervise the investigation personally. It is too early to say about any preliminary conclusions, the spokesman said. The Investigation Committee is investigating two major theories: a technical malfunction and a pilot mistake.

A horrible news report shocked the city, the Sovetsky Sport writes. Lokomotiv was not just a favourite team in Yaroslavl, they admired Lokomotiv and all its matches were held with full stands. The relatives, fans, the hockey players of the youth Lokomotiv team came to the Yaroslavl hospital, where the survivors – a striker Galimov, a flight engineer Sizov were hospitalized.