On behalf of all its officers and members, the Irish Ice Hockey Association would like to extend its deepest condolences and sympathies to all those affected by the plane crash on Wednesday in Yaroslavl, Russia.
43 people, including 36 from the KHL Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey club, died in the crash, the worst ever in the history of ice hockey. The Yakovlev Yak-42 airplane had just taken off from Yaroslavl’s Tunoshna Airport and was heading towards the Belarusian capital Minsk for the club’s opening KHL season game against Dynamo Minsk on Thursday.
The plane crashed shortly after take-off, only some two kilometres from the runway, after experiencing immediate problems. The initial reports from various news sources and the Russian Ice Hockey Federation claimed that all passengers perished, with one of the co-pilots being very seriously injured. The first bulletins reported 34 people dead, but the number had increased to 43 three hours after the accident, 35 members of the Lokomotiv hockey club and seven crew.
IIHF President René Fasel said, “This is a terrible tragedy for the global ice hockey community with so many nationalities involved. This is the darkest day in the history of our sport. This is not only a Russian tragedy, the Lokomotiv roster included players and coaches from ten nations.”
Our thoughts are with all of those affected by this tragedy.
(Information taken from IIHF.com)