we're watching our team from moscow just one story dominating our news tonight russia's worst sporting tragedy an aircraft carrying the champion russian ice hockey team lokomotiv yaroslavl crashed in flames there this evening near the runway in their holy city which is two hundred seventy kilometers northeast of moscow only two people are thought to survive from among the forty five who were on board that stricken plane at the time that is innocent now is near the crash site bring us up to date with the latest as she gets the information and throw the evening i know some more details have been coming through they were getting more accounts now from the people who saw that plane go down what have they been saying. they are yours travel in pure shock this evening as is this horrible

news on ravel throughout the the late day that forty three people in fact were killed onboard that flight two of them survived we're hearing that that one of them is a very critical condition he's a member of the russian national ice hockey team and we've heard conflicting reports of perhaps here tice a little bit of hope here eurostar that there will in fact continue to be two survivors there both make it out of this like you said a lot of people saw this crash happen from here on the ground a lot of different accounts of how it all happened let's listen to some of the people we spoke to about what they saw when things went very wrong on that for each . other to move on not just for someone to call them for the plane to come face to comes colliding several seconds later we had another bank when the plane started leaning to the right after we heard the second bang the plane suddenly turn and. i

didn't see it hit the ground. plane broke into. we heard a plane takeoff so we told our granddaughter look there's going to be an airplane then i heard a bang and my daughter told me mom it's falling down to the side then came the flames and the smoke and we wanted to run away but we didn't know where to run then we went to the river and saw the plane. come on you're just looking back she was my home team we supported him so we'll have this team who was shocked when we found out she went to all the games we knew all of them by name and it's very difficult. now emergency crews working well into the night here to try to recover any remaining body so far thirty five of them have been found in the first couple of hours after the accident in fact very quickly a lot of those bikes were found it has to be said though within the last two hours or so that number hasn't gone up which of course is

a scary thing we talk to investigators they hope that by gone they'll be able to find the rest of those bodies it's jarkko it's cold most of that plane is in the water so this is a very tough situation for the men out here trying to find the rest of those bodies we know that specialists are coming in from moscow with lights and other equipment to try to help the situation but it's going to be a long night searching for the rest of those bodies here and you're islamic people taking pictures very early on of the scene we saw them on you tube we saw the plane basically in flames in a couple of places in the volga river can just paint a picture for us what happened the various stories coming through we have. the plane broke into we're hearing other official reports on a plane broken free with those parts and ended up in the river what more do we know about what actually happened physically there and how close is the river to the. airport is about a kilometer from where i'm standing in the crash site just a high. and we hear so very close to the river it's

a big river like i said most of the plane in that river and that's what the search effort is it's about the water it's about getting down under there and trying to find these bodies very different stories about how that happened you heard from those witnesses there the most common one that we're hearing now the most repeated is that there was some kind of difficulty gaining altitude and that the plane crashed into some kind of antenna and then fell into the river we're hearing very different stories about whether it was tilting on its right on its left and the latest version that we're hearing reports that i've heard is that the. air traffic controllers who were on the ground it's reported are saying that from what they saw it look like the pilot could have actually begun his takeoff too late so overrun the runway in the sense on takeoff and that's another thing of again investigators looking very much into this we can confirm though that the for the fleet of the

forty two high has been grounded it's very vague we don't know for how long or if it is just until the investigation is completed and they figure out what exactly went wrong and there's going to be a big debate on whether or not these old school planes should be flying with this tragedy happening but we do know we can't confirm that. for you choose will not be flying it till investigators find out what exactly happened course in a suit or a nearly one hundred still in service would we know about the forty two fleet it depends who you talk to one part of the earlier on saying these planes they're pretty robust ok they are an old model by having been built for a while but if the service ok they're pretty near enough airworthy that's what you'll get any service from i'm talking to you in fives you know in the navy they'll say the equipment got a good service probably. is good is better than maybe some some new stuff when we know about the yet forty two as a machine. well that's what i've heard if you speak to any experts will say is. it

is any plane can really run for three decades if it's kept up well but i think what investors are going to be looking into is first of all they're investigating be the airline that was in charge of this flight first of all for any checks that might have been missed but in general like i said there's a big debate on whether or not these old planes should be flying. and this is just going to continue with this latest tragedy we know that it's a very safe plane the experts we've spoken to say that if it's kept up well it can certainly still be flying and it might not very well be the actual plane that was the cause of the accident human factor is bowl we something that is looked into when these accidents occur because it was much more important in order the human side of this knew that the human toll of it all falls with the family the friends with both souls of the parish and there's been a huge turnouts not and. it's quite a sight hundreds if not thousands of people out on the streets of the center of the city in their jaroslav all lokomotiv scarves. and.

carrying candles flowers screaming we love you will miss you and this is just an awful tragedy and you can feel that on the streets of yours level to see people going to try to make her way into the center within the next couple of hours and see what's happening but from what we're seeing in the pictures that we've been filming there just hundreds if not thousands of people destroyed here in your assault by this tragedy which by the way is certainly not just a russian tragedy we know several embassies have confirmed including the swedish of the slovakian as well as the czech republic and that their nationals were on that flight the head coach a canadian brad mccrimmon on their plane fifty two he is confirmed to have died as well such a double blow in such a tragedy these old young men too. you know who are it's an awful it's an awful thing memorials and tribute been pouring in just as can you. people

maybe you're just tuning in to us we don't quite get how important it is here in russia you know how important it was a team like this first of all two to its home city but also to ice hockey fans across russia one how important is ice hockey in the country. well i psyche as far as i understand it from the people i've been speaking to was huge in soviet times and the soviet teams were excellent and it kind of got lost in the ninety's during all that turbulence and just recently it's become really big again so it's really a piece of national pride and the people we've been speaking to said i have to admit i'm not a big follower of russian ice hockey but the people we've spoken to the fans were really proud of this team they were apparently a very good team the fact that the entire team almost was wiped out in this one tragedy is just such a harsh blow to your will and sport it is like you said sports russian sports history greatest tragedy and this is what i think it looks like this is going to go

down in history for just being just an awful hit to the country's sport and to risk it and it's now i think you. know it would you know it was so you know let's talk now to a sports correspondent. you know russia is this is no already been regarded as russia's worst sporting tragedy it's been very deeply felt across the country isn't it absolutely because number of people the sheer generation the squad has completely gone with the exception of alexander critically. and it's not first so it is us right is there it's not and also it has to do some research on this and several colleagues pointed out about the court practical disaster which happened in nine hundred seventy nine but the court was what is now and respect which is part of the soviet union and was promoted to the top flight in august one thousand seventy nine and then ironically in much the same way i was flying again to two minutes to play didn't have the minsk the football that i missed this time around

in a top flight match at this particular point the plane didn't go down it had a mid-air collision seventeen players and officials died one hundred fifty people overall in both flights died a terrible tragedy and from that the we also been talking about how how the teams harry on. how how how the city can carry on having lost we can see the pictures there of the families how devastated they can be in this particular answers recorded all the other teams within the top flight a voluntary player went to play for them and this is something that might as has been suggested by commentators like alexander because mark and other another famous sports commentators across russia perhaps some of the other i saw a really nice idea that i'm sure that would be welcome to be so many international hockey stars per one disaster in the shock of this tragedy is not just being felt here in russia because you mentioned the coach maybe you know just you know a lot of international players there absolutely looking across and there at the

right or the rossi is so sad to read you have to live in it you have to check stars carol you nick young man they have all the needs of acura it why it is an international tragedy the k.-h. of russia's hotly in much the same way that the n.h.l. does an america it tracks players from all around the world and we have at least eight or nine nationalities international playing playing countries within this one team this is truly an international disaster thank you. but we've got to comment on what we're going to bring some comment from alexander. but let's let's bring you some color from alexander shall we he had some comment to say earlier on just after this happened he is the president of kontinental hockey league this is. a plane carrying the locomotive team krrish to right after the take off from europe according to the latest information only one player has some wind powered teams don't think it can continue the men should have to say. thank you for your

understanding and supporting this decision now let's commemorate the players who have passed away with a minute of silence. from. the president of the ice hockey federation of russia this is what he had. we offer our condolences to the families and the club i must say it is a huge loss for russian ice hockey because there were a lot of good plays and jaroslav so we will do everything to find out the causes of the tragedy to support the families and help the sport leave on in dallas lovel to honor those who died in the disaster. also to aviation expert mark weiss is a former american airlines pilot tells me he thinks the crash investigation will take some time but its results should help hopefully prevent future tragedy. first thing they're going to start with you going to get investigators and. typically speaking you bring investigators who have expertise in all of the various systems and aircraft components and engines. airworthiness. you bring

them all together and you start with the records of the aircraft the maintenance records of the aircraft the history of the aircraft the history of the crew the weather at the time any problems that were encountered by aircraft taking off for them it's a long tedious process but these people who do this job and here we have the national transportation safety board who oftentimes are quoting world wide as experts in forensics of accidents. they're very well trained and they're very detailed and nothing really goes over what they will find every bit and piece to put this together because remember at the end result of the investigation it's not just. you know give closure to everybody but to prevent something like this from happening again. there are seasoned acts pilots. but of course keep you updated

with the latest developments and you get throughout the night now let's turn to some other nation. a little cold in berlin is thrown out a series of lawsuits which said that germany's rolling of bailouts trailing european economies were illegal but judges ruled out giving chancellor merkel a blank check saying any future aid must be pre-approved by parliament that could of course hamper germany's ability to react swiftly to any new crisis but it does also say the president rather nations to tighten their belts to opposition parties both from the ruling but said merkel it made the crisis worse through delays and lack of vision you spoke to financial advisor patrick young new believes there's little or celebrate just yet. ultimately this. it's actually i think what we would call a pyrrhic victory it's an empty victory from its merkel yes the b. allies can go ahead but like all good court judgments read the small print and what has happened today is that in fact the german court has come on with an

announcement of the german parliament and most importantly of all the german budget committee has a grid deal more say on what goes on in the whole issue on a larger basis what we're looking at today is that yes be allowed can go ahead and bought at the same time it's still a very very quietly picture of the euro we know that the german people are deeply unhappy about what's going on and they don't see there being any benefit in suddenly giving a credit card another bottle of vodka to a driving drunken man in a department store and that's what we've got here it's going to still be a terrible result once the market has had a bit of a relief rally which is going on as we speak what's happening is greece's essential being sold. to the slavery by the way that the euro debt mechanism is working for farce for greece it's of course for greece people and it's a total complete and utter disaster for the euro greece should be allowed to go

free and it must make its own decisions its own sovereign decisions that have greece doesn't believe that cancer is spreading and as we know it reached last month it's already rooting around quickly since the end it here portugal it it ireland's so far does the disease google for it finally kills the patient i think the question is it's not a question of how much work is there to get angry side of the euro actually are much chances there that the euro is going to survive with greece still in it and the answer is really none. further south and said it has just approved the latest fifty four billion euro austerity package there and the weeks of political bickering accompanied by struggles and protests and you measures include tax hikes and an increase in the time of the we're going to go find the lower house of parliament and in the past few minutes in spain the senate there has also voted to add a constitutional amendment to limit the nation's rampant debt and unions and rights groups say the debt cut will decimate their welfare system and hurt the most

vulnerable. focus in on libya there rebels say they're trapped colonel gadhafi and they're ready to take him dead or alive the former leader was tracked down after loyalist convoys left for the neighboring country of new jack the rebels are believed to have located gadhafi with high tech equipment and intelligence they now control most of the country after a helping hand from western nations and that's in stark contrast to how america and britain operated in libya in recent years before it because before they get africa campaign right now the cia and m i six were allegedly sending terror suspects to libya for interrogation and even thought share according to documents in the recently been on earth in libya they've of course sparked outrage resulted in a bushel reports next to sign suggesting violence isn't over yet and the real chaos i still get really coming. mohamad the song is one of africa's most experienced diplomats just broke from the libyan capital he says me to pull me in has turned it

into a ghost town there is no police. there is no administration there is no there is no it's called law and order has been replaced by a crew of rebels some fear that the various groups who have emerged might soon start fighting each other i thought you were going stores have been raided every man with kalashnikovs if the tribes fight for their independence the country will end to a never ending civil war of brutal urban guerrilla warfare analysts argue that even rebel leaders don't know where their fighters of from. rebel hands mom with julia was a launch to find islam is sleeper cells had joined history fanciful and vast parallel structure of competence has appeared we have no idea who's in charge of then. hopes of a reliable replacement for more and more good their fear appear to be fading libya's rebels remain deeply divided while the chaos from nato bombing appears to be spreading beyond the country's borders in the turmoil there are fears that

religious extremists could be using libya as a base to further their aims in north africa and come to new zealand. then using women got abortion rights twenty years before women in belgium under the last regime divorced women good benefits revived arab family just movements trying to reverse that that. before the war leaders from barack obama to nicolas sarkozy and silvio berlusconi shook and even kissed good their fees when she wrote was going to get rid carpet treatment in paris but the west will also change tack want experts if libya doesn't go for them as planned according to this man who's just returned from war torn tripoli the message from some locals there is that the conflict may have created a frankenstein's monster for europe they warned us that we don't know what we are creating in the it will be a free haven of extremist groups which are just on the southern border of europe

poor it's from failed somalia made their coast a no go. fruits of nearly song diplomats no think libya is heading in the same direction but what they will do sure that it is getting in will not be safe see there will be pirates and there will be all bloat to control it in the lucrative i will think french economy can support that with the intervention in libya has brought large numbers of new forces to the fore experts fear the worst it still may come to regret their emergency the new bush or brussels stay with the region's troubles the situation in syria was discussed in moscow to me thing between russian and french foreign minister is both that his counterpart stressed the need for dialogue between the syrian government and opposition but the meeting also outlined a few differences in approach as well france is seeking tough sanctions on the syrian government where the other hand russia wants a more peaceful solution but both look forward they say discussing possible bases

in the un general assembly later this month russia's foreign minister stressed syria must not be a repeat of the libya scenario. we're convinced that it's vital today to start talks and that is actually what the syrian leadership calls for it's extremely dangerous to prompt certain forces in syria to boycott those talks and neither russia nor frons wants to see that happen every party in syria should stop using violence and we proposed a resolution to this a frank we encourage the government to carry out the reforms it has launched and the opposition should not use provocations and reject invitations into dialogue. that he's been hearing how syria will be able to settle its issues that are the key western state stop trying to impose their imperial ambitions on it with sanctions. sanctions always hurt the people i mean it's amazing that these old colonial powers have now learned that if only into hurting the people not the regime itself it

actually solidifies the power of the best best buy for it is the butt out i mean that's what the u.s. needs to do that's what the brits need to do france i don't know what is filled with dictators with tyrants it always has been this is a matter for the syrian people to decide how far do they want to go to oust this dictatorship if they want to go to revolution which is a very costly enterprise not lose their lives this is a choice the people of that country need to make but you know these these are they all come on you know powers you know britain and britain france i mean they're they're living in the old days that have been their empires back where they were controlling the middle east in controlling the events in the middle east and installing their little puppet regimes extracting the oil from these countries is going to go to something significantly worse they're going to keep playing this game with the sanctions the assad regime is not going to urgent you know no regime is going to budge to with respect to sanctions and you're just going to see

a tightening and tell ultimately yes you may see a situation. national identity is a powerful emotion but when you've been a small part of a big country for the best part of millennium you can feel a little bit held back take wales for example a tiny british principle i think and i want to say a taste of freedom as it's celtic cousins in scotland that is the remnant reports know just why the people of the valleys get a bigger voice. welcome to wales part of the u.k. and a proud nation with its own language and customs and the latest voice to call for independence applied comrie which means the party of wales has always argued the country could be better off without the u.k. and it seems increasing numbers are starting to see their point of view our economy has been run from london with the increase in priorities of the south east of england to the fall and independent would be able to chart

a different course. priorities wales is a long way from declaring independence but it's no longer just a pipe dream people here voted overwhelmingly earlier this year in favor of handing the welsh assembly full law making powers that was considered a turning point in welsh nationhood and plights couldn't read the party of wales have undoubtedly taken heart from the surprise victory of the scottish national party that victory in may gave the s.n.p. an outright majority in the scottish parliament which has many powers devolved from westminster the party's promise to hold a scotland wide referendum on whether to declare independence according to applied comrie that marks the turning of the tide for a unified u.k. people i believe the beginning to to use the word into penguins in in a welsh context which they say they wouldn't have done a few years and asked activity that so i think the people in where's it going to

see that they're going stockland becomes independent the next logical step is for we're just becoming topanga and to of course separatism is nothing new to the british isles and the thousands of victims of the troubles in northern ireland are testament to how high feelings can run both in the present day and for centuries past while national sentiment may not be a new phenomenon the reasons for it have changed over the years and in these. current turbulent economic times money talks scotland has oil and gas but while wales was a proud coal producing nation its mines are now closed and it's got some of the highest unemployment levels in the u.k. because of that the older generation is reserved when it comes to independence but young people are filled with national fervor for them independence is less about money and more about nationhood and identity wales needs to be independent because

it is a great country and we do we do and never take. is really patriotic i think would more teach us to think that we have a lot of people here which is going to seem to be better here at the moment that you can get free prescriptions. education seems to be a bit better played comrie says it's going to build on that support providing not just emotional reasons why well should be independent but concrete economic reasons too and it says wales does have resources particularly land and sea for green energy if the scots vote for independence wales might not be far behind nor emmett's ati card it. is printed squired in israel where police have started this one thing the tent cities built by protesters during the past two months the come from pollination why demonstration of living costs and other social problems among israelis who came first in the day after televisa ministration promised to protect

the government's traitors and cooperate with them but one of those police clashes between becomes inhabitants and officers as well as calls for television to resign meantime in the west bank jewish settlers vandalized the israeli defense force base damaging several vehicles that was a response to the i.d.f. earlier dismantling several legal outposts circles the daily dire and spokesperson says the authorities will act as they would have a palestinian state in the neither side will achieve anything. this act of vandalism they call the perpetrators to surrender the stuff to the police and also called the police to use the. capabilities they have in order to catch the perpetrators of these acts by the way or use exactly the same terminology when violence perpetrated by israelis against the palestinian property they have to understand. we are all playing here. game leads us

nowhere there are only game. in diplomatic world including the united states including the united nations including the european community any including russia is the solution but the state solution isn't visible just a little after twenty eight minutes past eleven o'clock now here in moscow you watching r.t. international with me kevin when we continue to bring you updates on what has turned out to be russia's worst ever sporting tragedy earlier on this evening all except one member of the entire lokomotiv gerosa level ice hockey team were killed or saving after their plane crashed on takeoff two hundred seventy kilometers northeast of moscow the surviving plane tonight is said to be gravely ill and one thing tells coming up shortly.

the. limited. field.