With the world's spotlight on Russia's airline industry following a horrific crash that killed 43 people on Wednesday, President Dmitry Medvedev is calling for major changes to safety procedures. As a start, all Yak-42 jets have been grounded and Medvedev said the number of airlines operating in the country needs to be reduced. The death toll on Wednesday included 36 players, coaches and staff from the KHL's Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team. A Canadian coach and six former NHL players were among the dead. Two people survived the crash, which has focused attention on Russia's poor air safety record, lax government standards, substandard pilot training and older planes. On Thursday Medvedev visited the site where the plane went down on the banks of the Volga River shortly after takeoff from Yaroslavl, 240 kilometres northeast of Moscow. "The number of air companies should be radically reduced and it's necessary to do this within the shortest time," Medvedev said in comments at the meeting which were broadcast on Russian television. He didn't specify how that could be done, however. Medvedev laid flowers at the crash site and met with officials while investigators attempted to raise the tail section of the plane, which contains one of the plane's flight recorders. Norman Hermant, a journalist with the Australian Broadcast Corporation based in Moscow, said it isn't yet clear what caused the crash but it appears the plane lost power as it began to take-off. "There are a number of reasons that could account for that. It could have been pilot error, but Russian media is speculating that faulty fuel is to blame for the plane not having enough power and hitting some sort of antenna at the end of the runway before it crashed," Hermant told CTV's Canada AM. He said the plane was built in 1993, and was relatively young compared to many in Russia's fleet. One of the jet's three engines was replaced a month ago, according to reports on Thursday. It was not immediately clear what measures the government could take to cut the number of air carriers in Russia, many of which are small, regional operations. There are about 130 air carriers throughout Russia, but 85 per cent of passengers are carried by just 10 companies, Transport Minister Igor Levitin said on Thursday. Hockey team Counting the toll on the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team, the International Hockey Federation said 27 of the team's players were killed in the crash, along with seven club officials and two coaches including Canadian Brad McCrimmon. Two others were critically injured. On Thursday, Kontinental Hockey League chief Alexander Medvedev said the team would be quickly rebuilt and called on all teams in the KHL to contribute two or three players to a new squad. That would free up 40 to 45 players for the new team to choose from. The team could be in place by as soon as next week, when the now-delayed KHL season begins. TSN's Gino Reda said the league is making a concerted effort to stay strong in the midst of the tragedy. "That team was very, very important to the community, very important to the league and it's very important to everyone involved in the league and in hockey in general that the team gets back on its legs," Reda told Canada AM. "Everyone's thinking 'we're survivors, we're hockey players, somehow we're going to get through this as a community and we're going to carry on.'" The players were travelling to the Belarusian capital of Minsk for what would have been the opening game of the Kontinental Hockey League season. The KHL is a league that includes players from several countries including Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Slovakia. Lokomotiv Yaroslavl is considered a top KHL team, having ranked third in the league's fourth season last year. Among the international stars on its roster are Sweden's Stefan Liv and Czech Republic's Jan Marek. A Czech embassy said Marek was killed in the crash, along with fellow Czech players Josef Vasicek and Karel Rachunek. Others confirmed dead include Latvian defenceman Karlis Skrastins, Belarusian defenceman Ruslan Salehi and Slovakian national team captain Pavol Demitra, who had played for the St. Louis Blues and the Vancouver Canucks. McCrimmon, 52, was a native of Saskatchewan. He played for six NHL teams in his career and most recently served as an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings. He took the coaching job with the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in May. Russian player Alexander Galimov and a crewmember both survived the crash, although a medical official reported their condition as "very grave." CTVNews.ca Staff Thu Sep. 08 2011