Russian President Orders Closure of Airline Involved with NHL Players' Death

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered on Sunday the closure of the Yakolev-42 chartered plane that crashed Wednesday that caused the death of 43 people, including almost all of the country's national hockey team members, AFP reports.

Medvedev ordered the drafting of a law by Nov. 15 to inform operators of the ill-fated aircraft which run Soviet-era jets that it would no longer be allowed to fly because of safety concerns.

Another set of regulations would be submitted to the Russian parliament for approval in December which would hike penalties for airlines that breach air safety benchmarks, and would allow government inspectors to ground jets considered dangerous even without court orders.

The 18-year-old aircraft was the fifth aviation accident in Russia in the past 12 months. The 44 death toll in the plane bound for Belarus increased to 99 the total number of air fatalities in 2011.

The plane that crashed was younger compared to the average age of Russian domestic single-aisle fleet which ranges from 25 to 30 years old. The average age of American jets is only 13 years.

"The number of deadly accidents rules out coincidence and points to fundamental problems with ageing infrastructure and the rule of law," IHG Global Insight analyst Lilit Gevorgyan told Bloomberg.

"This is certainly casting a shadow on Russia aspiring to become a world class economy," Mr Gevorgyan said.

With the accident, which happened minutes after the jet took off from the Tunoshna airport with the Lokomotiv Yaroslavi hockey team aboard to participate in the opening day of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) season, Medvedev said that Russia may have to order plans from aircraft manufacturers overseas to ensure travel safety.

"The value of human life overrides other considerations, including support for the domestic produce... Of course it's necessary to think of our own but if they're not up to the job, we need to buy equipment overseas," Bloomberg quoted Mr Medvedev who was at the crash site on Sunday.

Only two passengers survived the plane crash. One was Aleksandr Sizov, the jet's engineer, and the other was Lokomotiv member 26-year-old Aleksandr Galimov, who suffered 80 per cent burns. Both survivors are still in Solvyov Hospital in critical condition. Of the crash victims, 36 were NHL players and officials.

On Monday morning, AP reported that Galimov succumbed to his burn wounds.

Following the tragedy that hit the Lokomotiv team, Russian sports officials said they plan to rebuild a team by borrowing players from other teams to compose a new NHL national team.

KHL President Alexander Medvedev said that the league would also consider members from the youth squad. He asked all the 18 league members to volunteers up to three players each to build a new Lokomotiv team.

According to Russian KHL Board of Directors Chairman Vyacheslav Fetisov who has the most medals among Russian hockey players, at least 30 players said they plan to join the new Lokomotiv team.

"Though it occurred thousands of miles away from our home arenas, this tragedy represents a catastrophic loss to the hockey world - including the NHL family, which lost so many fathers, sons, teammates and friends who at one time excelled in our league," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement.