- Title: RUSSIA: Hockey fans mourn players in Yaroslavl plane crash
- Date: 8th September 2011
- Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (SEPTEMBER 7, 2011) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF RUSSIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE AND HOCKEY FEDERATION HEADQUARTERS VARIOUS OF GLASS BOOTH WITH TOURNAMENT CUPS AND OTHER HOCKEY AWARDS AT RUSSIAN HOCKEY FEDERATION HEADQUARTERS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN HOCKEY FEDERATION EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR VALERY FESYUK SAYING: "It is a terrible day because we have lost one of the best teams of Russian hockey, a team which millions of fans loved, which was well known and popular in Russia. It's terrible to think that those people who just yesterday were present at training, who we talked to and put on the play lists are not alive anymore. It's terrible." WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS CUPS AND MEDALS ON SHELF (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN HOCKEY FEDERATION EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR VALERY FESYUK SAYING: "It was an international team as we usually say. The team included a Swedish goalkeeper, three Czechs, a Slovak, a Belarussian, a Latvian, it was simply like a monolith, one whole team which was following one common goal. Now I can't even name them all, I simply can't believe that they are no more with us. I simply don't believe it." PEOPLE ON STREET OUTSIDE RUSSIAN HOCKEY FEDERATION (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) MUSCOVITE ANDREI POCHUFAROV SAYING: "The team performed well, which I would say really made us proud of our ice hockey championship. Anyway it is rather more a human tragedy than a sport loss, I think it is big tragedy, not only for our sports but but for the whole country." (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) MUSCOVITE INNA SAYING: "I recalled at once what happened to the Pakhtakor (Soviet soccer team killed in a plane crash in 1979), the Soviet Air Force (ice hockey team members killed in plane crash in 1950), the Manchester United (soccer team members killed in plane crash in 1958). Now it was the same situation, a crash by start. I wouldn't say I didn't believe it at once, regretfully, in our country everything can happen. Our planes are simply disastrous." (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) MUSCOVITE PAVEL YAKIMOVICH: "It has been happening regularly in recent times, planes have crashed one after another. It's very tragic. Especially when a team, the whole team (die) it's makes you speechless." FLAGS OUTSIDE OLYMPIC COMMITTEE
- Embargoed: 23rd September 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Russian Federation
- Country: Russia
- Topics: Accidents,Sports,Transport
- Reuters ID: LVA4T1LLA3ZC9IR9IS7Q9ZEIB17Z
- Story Text: A passenger plane carrying a Russian ice hockey team to a season-opening match crashed after takeoff from a provincial airport on Wednesday (September 7), killing 43 people and leaving two survivors in grave condition.
The crash of the Yak-42 aircraft, whose victims included foreign stars playing for the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL)team Lokomotiv, plunged the sports world into grief and marred a showcase political forum featuring President Dmitry Medvedev.
The Russian-made plane was carrying 37 passengers and eight crew to Minsk in Belarus when it crashed a few kilometers (miles) from the airport at Tunoshna outside Yaroslavl, 250 km (150 miles) north of Moscow, the Emergencies Ministry said.
Three Czech world champions, a legendary Slovak player and Swedish goaltender Stefan Liv were killed, officials said.
The Czech players were Jan Marek, Karel Rachunek and Josef Vasicek, all stars of the national side that won the world championship six times since 1996, the Czech embassy in Moscow said.
"It is a terrible day because we have lost one of the best teams of Russian hockey, a team which millions of fans loved, which was well known and popular in Russia. It's terrible to think that those people who just yesterday were present at training, who we talked to and put on the play lists are not alive anymore. It's terrible," said Russian Hockey Federation Executive Director Valery Fesyuk.
"It was an international team as we usually say. The team included a Swedish goalkeeper, three Czechs, a Slovak, a Belarussian, a Latvian, it was simply like a monolith, one whole team which was following one common goal. Now I can't even name them all, I simply can't believe that they are no more with us. I simply don't believe it," added Fesyuk.
Lokomotiv's head coach, Canadian former Detroit Red Wings assistant Brad McCrimmon, was on the passenger list posted by the Emergencies Ministry. Other victims had played in the National Hockey League.
"The team performed well, which I would say really made us proud of our ice hockey championship. Anyway it is rather more a human tragedy than a sport loss, I think it is big tragedy, not only for our sports but but for the whole country, " said Muscovite Andrei Pochufarov.
The crash was the third in Russia with a toll in the dozens in less than two years. In June a Tupolev Tu-134 jet slammed into a roadside while trying to land in fog in the northern Russian city of Petrozavodsk, killing 45 people. In April 2010, Polish President Lech Kaczynski's Russian-built plane crashed near the western city of Smolensk in a thick fog, killing him and all 95 others on board.
An Antonov An-12 cargo plane crashed in August in Russia's Far East, killing 11, and an An-12 crash in Siberia in July killed seven.
"I recalled at once what happened to the Pakhtakor (Soviet soccer team killed in a plane crash in 1979), the Soviet Air Force (ice hockey team members killed in plane crash in 1950), the Manchester United (soccer team members killed in plane crash in 1958). Now it was the same situation, a crash by start. I wouldn't say i didn't believe it at once, regretfully, in our country everything can happen. Our planes are simply disastrous," said Muscovite Inna.
"It has been happening regularly in recent times, planes have crashed one after another. It's very tragic. Especially when a team , the whole team (die) it's makes you speechless," said another Moscow resident pavel.
Russia's transport industry also came under scrutiny in July after an overcrowded riverboat sank in the Volga, killing 122 people in an accident widely blamed on negligence and corruption that leads to safety violations.
The Yak-42 is a three-engine mid-range jet that entered service in 1980 and can carry 120 passengers.
The most recent fatal Yak-42 crash occurred in 2003, when a Ukrainian-operated craft crashed while landing in fog in Turkey, killing 75 people including Spanish troops returning from Afghanistan. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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