Eleven years have passed. However, even time does not heal some wounds. Probably the darkest day in hockey history was etched indelibly in everyone’s memory. On the fateful day of September 7, 2011, the entire Lokomotiv Jaroslav hockey team perished in a plane crash. Unfortunately, there were also three Czech representatives Jan Marek (†31), Karel Rachůnek (†32) and Josef Vašíček (†30) on board the JAK-42 aircraft.
The fatal crash happened at Tunošna Airport near Yaroslavl, Russia. The plane carrying the Lokomotiv hockey players ran into trouble immediately after takeoff and six meters above the ground collided with the beacon which was behind the runway. Only one person out of 36 passengers and 8 crew members survived the ensuing fatal fall into the Tunošonka River, a tributary of the Volga. It was aviation and radio technical maintenance engineer Alexander Sizov.
The crazy news broke to the world on the fateful day at seven minutes before three o’clock in the afternoon. The plane to Minsk for the opening game of the new KHL season never arrived. A few minutes after four o’clock, the official list of victims came out. The names of three Czech representatives were also included. Not only the Czech hockey world completely stopped at this time.
The investigation into the tragedy was only concluded in 2014 and the official position was that errors and incorrect procedures by inexperienced pilots were to blame. Moreover, they would have had false documents, on the basis of which they would even have been authorized to fly with this type of device. The responsibility also lies with the representative of the airline Jak Servis Vadim Timofeev, who covered the flight. The hypothesis of a technical defect was denied by the investigation.
The darkest day in Czech hockey: the death of three golden boys in the wreckage of the plane. • Photoflash
The Jaroslavl plane crashed shortly after takeoff, this is all that was left of it, only one person survived the tragedy, three Czech hockey players Karel Rachůnek, Jan Marek and Jiří Vašíček were among the victims
Farewell to the fallen hockey players in the Old Town Square. There was crying on stage and in the crowd
Topics: sport, blitz, hockey, Minsk, Yaroslavl, Josef Vašíček, Lokomotiv, Karel Rachůnek, Jan Marek, Volga,
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