Other events in Baltic States

On Wednesday, a Russian jet carrying a team of hockey players to their first match of the season crashed on takeoff, killing 43 on board. There were two survivors. 37 of the dead are players, coaches and staff of Russian ice hockey club Yaroslavl "Lokomotiv", among them star Latvian defender Karlis Skrastins.

LETA offers a biography of the man everyone in Latvia knows as ''Iron Man''.

Skrastins was born in Riga in 1974 and began his professional ice hockey career in 1991 with local ice hockey club ''Pardaugava''. From 1994 to 1997, he played for Finnish ice hockey club Turku TPS, finishing second in the Finnish domestic league in 1997.

Skrastins was selected with the 230th pick in the 1998 NHL Draft by the Nashville ''Predators'', where he played five season. In 2003, he was traded to the Colorado ''Avalanche'', but during the 2004/2005 NHL lock-out, he returned home to play for Latvian ice hockey club ''Riga 2000'', becoming the Most Valuable Defender in the Belarus Ice Hockey League that season.

After two-and-a-half season for the ''Avalanche'', Skrastins was traded to the Florida ''Panthers'' mid-way through the 2007/2008 season. That same season, Skrastins played in his 600th NHL game, and scored his 100th NHL point.

Before the 2009/2010 season, Skrastins signed a two-year deal with the Dallas ''Stars'', where he played the final two seasons of his NHL career. Then the Latvian decided to leave the NHL and sign with Russian ice hockey club Yaroslavl ''Lokomotiv'' this past off-season.

In February 2007, Skrastins set an NHL record for consecutive games by a defenseman after making his 487th straight regular season appearance. Skrastins broke Canadian Tim Horton's consecutive games record set between 1961-1968. Skrastins had not missed a game since February 21, 2000. He played in eight more regular season games before suffering an injury.

Because of his durability, Skrastins earned the knick-name ''Iron Man''.

Skrastins, who was a defensive style defenseman, played a total of 832 NHL games during his career, scoring 32 goals and making 104 assists.

The Latvian also rarely turned down an invitation to play for his country, as he played in 12 World Championships and three Olympics during his career.

The Latvian ''Iron Man'' was an integral part of the legendary Latvian team that defeated Russian at the 2000 Ice Hockey World Championships in St.Petersburg. During that same tournament, he scored three goals in one match against Belarus, becoming the first defenseman to score three goals in a World Championships match.

Skrastins played in a total of 151 games for the Latvian national team, scoring 28 goals and making 38 assists.

Skrastins also captained the Latvian team at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, which was the last time he ever wore a Latvian uniform.