Only hockey player to survive Russian crash dies
Posted September 12, 2011 7:46 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
MOSCOW, RU. (NEWS1130) – The only Russian hockey player to survive last week’s plane crash has died in a hospital in Moscow. Twenty-six year old Alexander Galimov had severe burns that covered nearly 90 per cent of his body.
At rallies following the crash, fans chanted “Galimov, live for the whole team!” and other slogans were dedicated solely to him.
The death toll now stands at 44 and of that number 37 were players, coaches and staff of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey club. The only person to survive, a member of the flight crew, remains in hospital.
The crash also killed former Vancouver Canuck Pavol Demitra.
There was a memorial ceremony on Saturday in the Lokomotiv ice arena that drew roughly 100,000 people, including Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
It was last Wednesday when the team was heading to Minsk, Belarus, to play its opening game of the Kontinental Hockey League season. The plane crashed into the Volga River bank shortly after take-off and burst into flames.
Experts are blaming Russia’s poor aviation safety record on an aging fleet, weak government controls, poor pilot training and a cost-cutting mentality.
