Brad McCrimmon, Pavol Demitra Among Confirmed Dead In Russian Plane Crash

The tragic plane crash in Russia on Wednesday has claimed the lives of the majority of the KHL’s Lokomotiv Yaroslavl ice hockey club, as has been confirmed by various news sources. Reports vary on the exact death toll, but the Associated Press has reported that at least 43 are dead.

According to the AP, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry claimed the plane was carrying 45 people -- 37 passengers and eight crew -- and that just two people survived the crash. One survivor is a flight engineer whose name has not been made public. The other is a player on the hockey team, but his outlook does not look good.

The agent for Lokomotiv player Alexander Galimov told Russia’s Sovetsky Sport that his client is alive but in coma following the crash. According to reporter Dmitry Chesnokov, Galimov was the lone survivor from the team and is in the hospital with burns covering the majority of his body. Unfortunately, Chesnokov also reports that Galimov could still pass away from his injuries despite surgery. In fact, doctors apparently call his survival “unlikely.”

We’re attempting to piece together various reports and there are a lot of them out there, but we’ve heard that every member of the ice hockey club was on the plane, meaning that if it’s true that Galimov was the lone surviving member of the team, the rest of the club is gone.

There were reports that Salei was not on the plane, but those seem to be untrue, with Russian officials confirming that he was indeed aboard the flight. Russia Today has confirmed the death of McCrimmon, and Demitra’s death was confirmed to the AP by his agent. Vasyunov’s death was confirmed by Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello.

We’ll continue updating this StoryStream as we learn more about Wednesday’s tragedy.