Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday laid flowers at a site of the plane crash that wiped out the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl ice-hockey team.
Lokomotiv's chartered Yak-42 crashed near Yarolslavl just after takeoff on Wednesday as the team were heading to Minsk for their season opener against Dinamo Minsk. Forty-three people were killed including a slew of former NHL stars and future draft prospects.
There were two survivors, Russian player Alexander Galimov and one of the eight crew members on board. Both are in critical condition. Galimov has burns to 90 percent of his body, a hospital official said.
Medvedev arrived at the crash site on Thursday morning and laid red roses on the bank of the Tunoshonka River, where the plane wreckage still lies in the water, and observed a moment of silence with his head bowed.
The Russian leader was accompanied Yaroslav Region Governor Sergei Vakhrukov.
