Tens of thousands mourn plane crash victims in central Russian City
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Xinhua, September 11, 2011
Tens of thousands of Russians on Saturday flocked to a memorial ceremony Saturday to pay their last respects to ice hockey players who were killed in Wednesday's plane crash in the city of Yaroslavl, central Russia.
The mourners, including Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, poured into to the arena of the ice hockey team to lay flowers near the coffins containing remains of players and staff of the Lokomotiv ice hockey team.
Wednesday's crash of a chartered Yak-42 plane killed 43 of the 45 people aboard, of whom, Lokomotiv players, coaches and team administrators made up 36, shocking the international hockey community. The team had been heading to Minsk, Belarus, to play its opening game of the KLH season. KLH is an international professional ice hockey league in Eurasia.
Cause of the air crash remains unknown at the moment.
Two men who survived the air crash are still in critical conditions.
While pledging to help the families of the players being killed in the air crash, Lokomotiv team president Yury Yakovlev Saturday also vowed to rebuild the team though they would miss this year's season.
