Poor quality fuel could be a cause of Russian plane crash

Poor quality of aviation fuel could be one of the possible reasons why the Yak-42 plane crashed in Russia Wednesday, killing at least 43 people, an aviation industry official said.

The plane carrying an ice hockey team crashed and burst into flames shortly after take-off near Yaroslavl, some 250 km from Moscow, emergencies officials said.

The Yak-42 plane was carrying the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl ice hockey team to Belarus capital Minsk, for the start of the new Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).

"The aircraft failed to gain the required engine take-off speed and fell from a low height on a Volga riverbank. Refuelling the plane with low-quality fuel is seen as a priority reason for the engine malfunction," the official said on condition of anonymity.

The Russian emergencies ministry said the plane had 45 people on board - 37 passengers and eight crew members. Two people - hockey player Alexander Galimov and flight attendant Alexander Sizov - survived the crash and are in hospital in critical condition.

The cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder are yet to be recovered.