First Anniversary of the KHL Lokomotiv Hockey Team Plane Crash

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Exactly one year has passed since the tragic plane crash involving KhK Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the KHL during takeoff from Tunoshna Airport. A Day of Remembrance will begin with Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of the Assumption in Yaroslavl. A team spokesman said, “They were faves not only of the local guys here in Yaroslavl; the memorial observance is attracting a lot of people”.

A silent March of Remembrance is scheduled for 15.00 MSK; fans will process to the Arena Sports Complex, the home ice of KHL Lokomotiv. At 16.05 MSK, the time of the crash, there’ll be a moment of silence to honour the memory of the team-members lost, and people will lay flowers at a memorial stone on the site of a future memorial, due to be completed for the second anniversary of the tragedy. On the same day, a memorial rally will be held in the village of Tunoshna on the spot where the plane crashed. Already, there’s a memorial where the Yak-42 airliner crashed on the riverbank. In addition, on that day, fans will bring flowers to a memorial at the Leontiev Cemetery, where most of the victims of the KHL Lokomotiv crash are buried. A memorial march and moment of silence will also be held in Rybinsk, some of whose players died in the plane crash.

On 7 September 2011, the main party of KHL Yaroslavl Lokomotiv took off from Yaroslavl Tunoshna Airport for their first match of the year, against KHL rival Dinamo Minsk. Almost immediately after takeoff, the Yak-42 crashed. On board were 45 people, eight crewmembers and 37 passengers, athletes, coaches, doctors, and staff. Only two people survived the tragedy… hockey player Aleksandr Galimov, who died five days later in hospital, and flight engineer Aleksandr Sizov. A criminal case was opened in this affair; former General Deputy Director Vadim Timofeyev of Yak Service Airline faces charges.

Vladimir Markin, an official spokesman for the SKP RF, said that investigators established, “Timofeyev allowed the crew to fly the Yak-42 in defiance of regulations, violating air transport safety standards, and, at the time of the accident, some of the crew lacked certification for autonomous flights. Under these circumstances, Timofeyev had no right to entrust the crew of the aircraft with passengers, and if he had carried out his duties in good faith, this disaster, which killed 44 people, wouldn’t have happened”. Timofeyev faces up to seven years in prison, if he’s convicted.

7 September 2012

Voice of Russia World Service

http://rus.ruvr.ru/2012_09_07/Godovshhina-gibeli-hokkeistov-jaroslavskogo-Lokomotiva/

Editor’s Note:

The “joys” of crapitalism have come to Russia. Someone decided to cut corners to make an illegal buck or two. Well, he’s gonna bust rocks under the Arctic sun in the Sakha Republic, maybe, right next to Khodorkovsky (in a Russian version of I Fought the Law and the Law Won). Like does call unto to like after all…

Spare a thought or a prayer (or both) for the guys who died in the crash… it was AVOIDABLE…

BMD

Silent March to Honour Victims of KHL Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Crash on First Anniversary

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Hockey fans in the Russian city of Yaroslavl shall hold a silent march to mark the first anniversary of the plane crash that wiped out the entire roster of the local team, KHL Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. The Lokomotiv players were enroute to the first game of the 2011-12 season in Belarus when their jet crashed shortly after take-off on 7 September. Amongst the 44 killed were Canadian head coach Brad McCrimmon and a host of former NHL stars and future draft prospects. The regional office of the MVD told RIA-Novosti that local hockey fans would process in silence to the team’s arena next Friday to honour their memory. At 16.05 MSK (13.05 UTC 08.05 EDT 05.05 PDT 22.05 EADT), the marchers will release balloons to mark the exact time of the crash. Since the tragedy, the three-time Russian championship team assembled a new squad for its return to the KHL after fielding a makeshift team of youth players and loan-signings in the junior MHL last season. The new Lokomotiv team’s first KHL match is 6 September, an away match at Sibir Novosibirsk.

29 August 2012

RIA-Novosti

http://en.ria.ru/sports/20120829/175505709.html

VOR Presents… Yaroslavl Paid Tribute to the Fallen Players of KhK Lokomotiv

About 6,000 people attended a memorial ceremony dedicated to the dead hockey players and staff of the KhK Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team. The ceremony was held on Sunday in Yaroslavl at the Arena-2000 arena, as it was the fortieth day since the tragic death of the athletes.

NB:

Orthodox Christians believe that the “Particular Judgement” of each individual takes place on the 40th day after death… hence, its importance in Russian religious and secular circles.

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The audience listened to music by Igor Butman and Yuri Bashmet and other musicians. Almost half of the audience held lit candles; the hall was almost full.

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Yuri Bashmet performed at the memorial ceremony.

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Yuri Bashmet playing Glinka…

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The highlight of the ceremony was when all the pupils of the team’s hockey school went out on the ice… some 300 skaters… from the smallest to the oldest.

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Three young hockey players carried a torch into the arena, and lit a memorial flame. “This flame will be kept at the club and we’ll bring it out for every match”, said Aleksandr Sakhanov, the PR manager of KhK Lokomotiv.

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Earlier, in Yaroslavl’s Assumption Cathedral, there was a memorial service for those killed in the plane crash. After the service ended, the crowd went to the Leontevskoe Cemetery to visit the graves of the hockey players, then, they went to the arena for the secular memorial ceremony.

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The Yak-42 carrying the team crashed on takeoff on 7 September at Tunoshna Airport in Yaroslavl. Immediately after leaving the ground, it fell on its wing, crashed, and caught fire. Of the 45 people on board, only hockey player Aleksandr Galimov and flight engineer Aleksandr Sizov managed to survive. Galimov died on 12 September, but Sizov is on his way to recovery, giving his first interview on 12 October, in which he stated that the pre-flight inspection didn’t find any equipment malfunctions.

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16 October 2011

Voice of Russia World Service

http://rus.ruvr.ru/photoalbum/58823544/

Editor’s Note:

There’s nothing wrong and much right with having a secular memorial service as well as church services. For instance, it allows unbelievers to mourn, too. All too many so-called “Christians” paint “unbelievers” as immoral and nasty individuals. That’s NOT true in the least. Unbelievers are simply people who don’t hold a religion, and there are MANY reasons why people feel that way (including the grim, heartless, and nasty behaviour of “Christians”). Trust me… there are many “unbelievers” whose company I prefer to that of so-called “Christians” (especially those of the Evangelical rightwing).

Death is a mystery before which all of us, both believer and unbeliever, Christian and non-Christian, stand in awe. None of us views it lightly. That’s why secular memorial services are good, too. Fie on all the “Evangelical” phonies who attack them as “pagan” (and double fie on the Orthodox who ape them).

I bow before the surviving families and friends. Вечная память. Eternal Memory. Anything else is worthless wind and verbiage.

BMD

KhK Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Player Aleksandr Galimov Dies in Hospital… Burial Service in Yaroslavl Will Follow Usual Muslim Funeral Customs

Aleksandr Galimov (1985-2012), KhK Lokomotiv Yaroslavl player, died in hospital in Moscow yesterday, burial according to Muslim rites will be today in Yaroslavl…

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Imam-Khatib Ramzan Rashidov of the Yaroslavl Cathedral Mosque told Interfax that the burial of KhK Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey player Aleksandr Galimov, who died yesterday at the RAMN Vishnevsky Surgical Institute, would follow the usual Muslim funeral customs. He said, “We’ll carry out all the rites that our Muslim traditions require”. The Farewell Ceremony for Galimov was at the Arena 2000 Sports Complex, it lasted until 11.30 MSK (08.30 UTC 05.30 EDT 02.30 PDT). Due to his family’s wishes, Galimov’s grave will be in a different location from the rest of his KhK Lokomotiv team-mates in Churilkovsky Cemetery in Yaroslavl. On 7 September, not far from Tunoshna Airport in Yaroslavl Oblast, a Yak-42 airliner carrying members of KhK Lokomotiv on their way to a game in Minsk crashed, killing 43 of the 45 aboard, 36 passengers and 7 crew members. After Galimov’s death yesterday, the only survivor of the crash is Flight Engineer Alexander Sizov, who’s in stable condition at the Sklifosovsky Institute in Moscow {known as the “Sklif”, its the best trauma centre in Russia: editor}.

13 September 2011

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=42197