Forty-three people are feared dead after a plane carrying a Russian hockey team crashed on Wednesday about 150 miles northeast of Moscow, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.
Officials initially said 37 people were on board the aircraft, but the ministry later said 45 were on board and that two had apparently survived.
Interfax cited a security official as saying the plane caught fire after the crash near the airport outside Yaroslavl, Interfax reported that the plane had trouble gaining altitude and hit an antenna near the runway.
There was no immediate word on the identity of the victims.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ordered the Transport Minister to the site of the crash
Deborah Lutterbeck, Reuters.