Alexander Galimov, Lokomotiv crash survivor, dies at hospital

Alexander Galimov, the hockey player, who survived the deadly air crash of the Yak-42 jet near Yaroslavl, has died in the morning of September 12. Medics have been struggling for Galimov's life for five days. The death toll of the air crash has thus climbed to 44 people.

Photo: Alexander Galimov

Galimov was the only hockey player, who survived the air crash on September 7. He was transferred to Moscow last Thursday along with another survivor, Alexander Sizov, a flight engineer, Vesti.ru reports.

The hockey player received serious burns of over 90 percent of his body. The player was put into the medically induced coma and connected to the artificial lung ventilation apparatus.

Russian news agencies said during the weekend that Galimov had been transferred to Germany for trachea transplantation surgery. The player's agent and father denied the information later and said that it was just a rumor.

The doctors continue to struggle for the life of Alexander Sizov. His condition is critical, but stable, specialists said.

In the meantime, the Russian airlines, which use outdated domestic aircraft, will not be given permissions to conduct winter charter flights, officials with the Russian Ministry for Transport said.

The measures will presumably affect such airlines as Tatarstan, Kogalymavia, Gazpromavia, Yamal, Yakutia and other carriers, whose fleet consists of Yak-40, Yak-42, Tu-134, Tu-154, An-24 and An-26.

The initiative came soon after President Dmitry Medvedev urged the government to cut the number of air carriers in the country after the deadly air crash near Yaroslavl on September 7.