Thousands attend Russian plane crash memorial

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has joined tens of thousands of people attending a memorial ceremony for the victims of the Russian plane crash that devastated a top ice hockey team.

Mourners poured into Yaroslavl’s main sports arena to lay flowers near the coffins containing remains of the players and staff of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team, who died in Wednesday’s crash of a chartered Yak-42 jet. Many wore scarves in the team’s colours.

The crash that killed 43 people was one of the worst aviation disasters in sport, shocking Russia and the entire world of hockey.

Of the 45 people on board, 36 were players, coaches and team officials of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, many of them European national team and former NHL players.