THE plane crash that killed 43 people, including a top ice hockey team, has sealed Russia's position as the most dangerous place to fly in 2011.

The country now surpasses even the Democratic Republic of Congo in the number of aircraft-related fatalities this year, Sky News reports.

The Yak-42 plane was carrying 37 passengers and eight crew members Wednesday when it failed to gain enough height on take-off and crashed in flames.

The passengers were all members of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl ice hockey squad, heading to Belarus to play their first game of the Kontinental Hockey League season.

Two survivors - 26-year-old player Alexander Galimov and a flight attendant - are fighting for their lives in the hospital.

The 73-seat aircraft, in use since 1993, was operated by the Moscow-based Yak Service.

In 2009, the European Aviation Safety Agency ranked Yak Service as the least safe of 35 Russian airlines flying to Europe. It has been banned from operating within the EU since then.

The last Yak-42 was built in 2002, but more than 170 planes remain in operation.

So far this year, 121 people have died in Russian plane crashes. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, 108 people have been killed in the same period.

President Dmitry Medvedev has promised to start taking aging Soviet fleets out of service next year.

The poor safety record raises concerns over the upcoming Winter Olympics in 2014 followed by the World Cup in 2018. In the biggest country in the world, internal flights are vital.

Russian aviation expert Roman Gusarov said the government needs to put money into the country's aviation industry.

"We need huge investment from the government, literally billions and billions of rubles," he said.

"Until recently we had big taxes on the import of foreign aircrafts. Companies just couldn't afford to buy new planes. Not a single airline has enough cash to buy new planes. This problem should also be addressed by the government.

"Last year, Russia built only seven new aircrafts. We need hundreds and hundreds of new ones."


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