Plane crashed in Russian killing members of a ice hockey team

At least two former New York hockey players were among 43 people killed in an early morning plane crash in Russia.

Shortly after taking off from an airport in western Russia early Wednesday morning, a Yak-42 plane carrying a pro ice hockey team, including former Rangers defenseman Karel Rachunek and Josef Vasicek, who played for the New York Islanders, crashed splitting into several pieces.

Reports say former New Jersey Devils, Alexandr Vayunov, was also on the plane.

The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said the charter flight was carrying 45 people, 37 passengers and eight crew members.  Two people survived the crash.

Most of the passengers were members of the Lokomotiv ice hockey team.  They were traveling from Yaroslavi to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where they were scheduled to play against Dinamo Minsk in the opening game of the season in the Kontinental Hockey League on Thursday.