On this day five years ago (September 7, 2011) at 12:02 UTS (16:02 MSK) near the Russian city of Yaroslavl crashed the passenger plane Yak-47 with the hockey team “Lokomotiv” Yaroslavl on board.
The aircraft ran off the runway before lifting off, struck a tower mast, caught fire, crashed 2 km from Tunoshna Airport at the Volga River bank and exploded.
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, a member of the Kontinental Hockey League, was on its way to Belarus to start the 2011–12 season with a match against Dynamo Minsk. All players from the main roster and four from the youth team were on board the aircraft.
Of the 45 men, 43 died immediately at the crash site. One of the two rescued from the wreck, forward Alexander Galimov, died five days later in hospital. Only the avionics flight engineer, Alexander Sizov, survived.
Every year on this day we recall them all. We remember those, who will never come back and who will not come out again on the ice of “Arena 2000”.
Hockey players: Vitaly Anikeyenko (24, Russia, defense); Mikhail Balandin (31, Russia, defense); Gennady Churilov (24, Russia, forward); Pavol Demitra (36, Slovakia, forward); Robert Dietrich (25, Germany, defense); Alexander Galimov (26, Russia, forward); Marat Kalimulin (23, Russia, defense); Alexander Kalyanin (23, Russia, forward); Andrei Kiryukhin (24, Russia, forward); Nikita Klyukin (21, Russia, forward); Stefan Liv (30, Sweden, goaltender); Jan Marek (31, Czech Republic, forward); Sergei Ostapchuk (21, Belarus, forward); Karel Rachůnek (32, Czech Republic, defense); Ruslan Salei (36, Belarus, defense); Maxim Shuvalov (18, Russia, defense); Kārlis Skrastiņš (37, Latvia, defense); Pavel Snurnitsyn (19, Russia, forward); Daniil Sobchenko (20, Russia, forward); Ivan Tkachenko (31, Russia, forward); Pavel Trakhanov (33, Russia, defense); Yuri Urychev (20, Russia, defense); Josef Vašíček (30, Czech Republic, forward); Alexander Vasyunov (23, Russia, forward); Alexander Vyukhin (38, Ukraine, goaltender); Artem Yarchuk (21, Russia, forward).
Team staff: Yuri Bakhvalov (47, Physician/Massage Therapist); Aleksandr Belyaev (48, Equipment Manager/Massage Therapist); Alexander Karpovtsev (41, Assistant Coach); Igor Korolev (41, Assistant Coach); Nikolai Krivonosov (31, Fitness Coach); Yevgeni Kunnov (Massage Therapist); Vyacheslav Kuznetsov (Massage Therapist); Brad McCrimmon (52, Head Coach); Vladimir Piskunov (52, Administrator); Yevgeni Sidorov (Coach-Analyst); Andrei Zimin (Team Doctor).
And we remember those, who lost their lives, performing their duties.
Flight crew: Nadezhda Maksumova (Flight attendant); Vladimir Matyushin (Flight engineer); Elena Sarmatova (Flight attendant); Elena Shavina (Flight attendant); Andrei Solomentsev (Captain); Igor Zhivelov (First Officer); Sergei Zhuravlev (First Officer).
We wish some days had never happened. We wish some days to be erased. Sometimes life is unfair and cruel. But we want to believe that all these souls are calm in heaven. They will never be forgotten.
We pay tribute to the team that should not has left so tragically.
They will always be with us on the ice.
Rest in peace.
8 years. Time goes so fast.
