A plane carrying Russia’s Lokomotiv ice hockey team crashed on Wednesday, killing 43 people.

The incident occurred at the airport near the city of Yaroslavl in the central part of the country, where witnesses said the plane went down and burst into flames shortly after take off. Initial reports said there were only two survivors and that most of the famous hockey squad was onboard the Yak-42 aircraft.

Some bodies and debris were pulled out of the River Tunoshna, a Volga tributary, just after the flight went down after departing Tunoshna airport, which is situated approximately 160 miles (250 kms) north and east of Moscow.

There were 11 foreigners onboard, all of whom were killed. Among them was Brad McCrimmon, the Canadian coach of the squad, as well as Sweden’s Stefan Liv, a star goalkeeper.

Russia’s Alexander Galimov was among the survivors; medical officials reported he had suffered burns on 80 per cent of his body. Earlier reports said he had died in hospital but it was later announced he had survived and had undergone surgery. A member of the flight crew also survived.

Vyacheslav Fetisov of the Kontinental Hockey League said the crash was an ‘irreparable’ disaster for the sport.