A jet carrying members of a major league ice hockey team has crashed in Russia, killing 36 people, Russian news agencies reported.

The Yak-42 passenger plane left 36 of the 37 people on board dead when it crashed during takeoff from an airport in the central Russian region of Yaroslavl, about 150 miles north of Moscow. The aircraft traveled only 500 meters before the crash at around 4:00 p.m. Moscow time.

State-run RIA Novosti reports that the plane fell to the ground straight after take-off and burst into flames.

The one survivor is reportedly critically injured.

A Russian Emergency Situations Ministry representative said there were 37 people aboard, including four crew members.

RIA Novosti news agency confirms that members of the local ice hockey team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl were on board the plane. The team was heading to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where it was due to play against Dinamo Minsk in the opening game of the Continental Hockey League's season. The Continental Hockey League is a league of several ex-Soviet nations.

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, founded in 1949 as the team of the Railways Ministry, is one of Russia's leading hockey teams. It was widely considered one of the favorites for this year's Continental Hockey League.

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