MOSCOW — A Russian jet carrying a pro ice hockey team, including several former NHL stars and two former Rangers, crashed while taking off today in western Russia, killing at least 43 people and leaving two critically injured, officials said.
The players on the plane included former Rangers and Devils defenseman Karel Rachunek, 32; center Josef Vasicek, 30, who played for the Islanders; and Alexander Vasyunov, who played for the Devils last season.
Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com
CBS News reported that former Rangers player Alexander Karpovtsev, who won the Stanley Cup with the team in 1994, was on the plane. He worked as an assistant coach for the Russian team.
PHOTOS: NHL PLAYERS KILLED IN RUSSIAN PLANE CRASH
The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said the Yak-42 plane crashed immediately after leaving an airport near the city of Yaroslavl, on the Volga River about 150 miles northeast of Moscow.
It was carrying 45 people, including 37 passengers and eight crew, and the ministry said all but two people were killed in the crash.
Officials said Russian player Alexander Galimov survived the crash along with a crewmember.
The entire team was on the plane at the time, officials said.
“Another terrible tragedy and loss to the hockey world… makes my body shake thinking bout it,” Michael Grabner of the New York Islanders wrote on Twitter.
The crash took place at 4 p.m. Moscow time and the weather was sunny with clear skies at the time, according to reports.
“I had the pleasure of knowing several members of the team, plus the entire coaching staff. In particular, Alexander Vasyunov, who played for us last season, was an outstanding young man and a gifted athlete,” Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello said Wednesday.
“Captain Karel Rachunek skated for us in 2007-08. Both were members of the Devils family. On behalf of the entire Devils organization, our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and loved ones of the entire Lokomotiv club.”
The ministry said the plane was carrying the Lokomotiv ice hockey team from Yaroslavl to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where it was to play Thursday against Dinamo Minsk in the opening game of the season in the Kontinental Hockey League.
The KHL is an international club league that includes teams from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Slovakia.
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl is a leading force in Russian hockey and placed third in the KHL last year.
The team was coached by Canadian Brad McCrimmon and includes several international and former NHL stars in its ranks. Lokomotiv was a three-time Russian League champion in 1997, 2002 and 2003 and took the bronze last season.
“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,” Russian Ice Hockey Federation president Vladislav Tretyak said.
One resident, Irina Pryakhova, saw the plane crash as it prepared to take to the skies.
“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.
A game 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 Konintental Hockey League head Alexander Medvedev.
The short- and medium-range Yak-42 has been in service since 1980 and dozens are still used with Russian and other airlines.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has announced plans to take aging Soviet-built planes out of service starting next year.
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.
NHL stars reacted with shock and grief.
“This is the darkest day in the history of our sport,” International Ice Hockey Federation president Rene Fasel said. “This is not only a Russian tragedy. This is a terrible tragedy for the global ice hockey community.”
Alex Ovechkin, a Russian superstar for the NHL Washington Capitals who once played for Lokomotiv’s Kontinental Hockey League rival Moscow Dynamo, posted on his Twitter account “I’m in shock!!!! R.I.P.”
“A whole national tragedy,” Ovechkin told the Washington Post. “It’s kind of a scary moment.”
The team included Slovakian ex-NHL star Pavol Demitra and was coached by Brad McCrimmon, a Canadian who played 18 seasons as an NHL defenseman.
“I knew half the team. I didn’t believe it at first … then I felt sick,” New York Rangers forward and former Lokomotiv hometown hero Artem Anisimov told Newsday.
Rescuers work at the crash site of Russian Yak-42 jet near the city of Yaroslavl Tuesday. (AP)
Demitra, 36, played with five NHL clubs, scoring 304 goals in 847 games. He signed with Lokomotiv last year after leading Slovakian scorers at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, his third Olympic appearance.
“People were drawn to Demo. He was a great friend and great teammate,” Matt Keator, Demitra’s agent, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “This is just awful. He was such a popular guy with everyone he has ever played with.”
Kevin Shattenkirk of the St. Louis Blues said, “Hockey lost a great legend in Demitra.”
NHL players, who were already coping with the deaths of three notable physical enforcers since May, including the Rangers’ Derek Boogaard, again expressed sorrow and sadness in Twitter postings.
Anaheim’s Bobby Ryan wrote, “I can’t believe I’m writing another one. Too many players gone this year.”
With Newscore