Russian football mourned the loss of a top match official who had just refereed his 100th Premier League game and died Tuesday in a fiery plane crash along with 43 others near his hometown. The 38-year-old Vladimir Pettai had been a top-flight Russian referee since 2003 and in 2010 earned the status of a FIFA match official, one of the highest honours in his profession.
"Pettai established a reputation as of the best and most experienced referees in our country," the Russian Football Union said in a statement. A Tu-134 jet crashed on landing in heavy fog early Tuesday at an airport in the north-western town of Petrozavodsk. Officials released the names of eight survivors but Pettai was not listed among them.