"Brothers, I am Galimov," he said

“I played with Galimov when I was a little kid and again on national team, junior”
~Alex Ovechkin

Here's the story how two policemen who were in a police boat in the river near the airport found Alexander Galimov (Vesti.ru)...

Around 4:00PM the police saw an airplane on a runway trying to take off. "It barely took off the ground, hit a beacon antenna, went to the left and crashed through the trees," says Dmitry. "We lifted the anchor and sailed to the crash site. From our place it was not more than 300 yards. Oleg steered the boat and I reported to management about the catastrophe. In just a minute and a half we were at the scene. Part of aircraft was in the water, the rest was burning on the beach. A man was trying to get to the shore, he was in water up to his chest. At first we thought it was a fisherman, who happened to be at the scene, but then realized that it was one of survivors."

The police could not immediately bring the boat to shore because it was shallow. At this moment a man in the pilot's uniform appeared from the wreckage of the plane. He tried to pull out another man, also in the uniform. The cars (police, ambulance, etc.) from the airfield arrived quickly to the crash site. They took care of a man in uniform, Alexander Sizov was pulled out of the water by transport police officers.

The police staff returned to the first survivor. The man was conscious, was talking and moving confidently, but was badly burned. The police helped him to get into the boat. "He was severely burnt," says Dmitry Konoplev, "and we did not even know how to help him, but then picked him up by the elbows, wrists, and pulled aboard. He was freezing, and asked us to cover him. We called the doctors and drove to Yaroslavl. All along the way we talked to him trying to keep him from losing consciousness. He behaved very bravely, was able to adequately assess the situation. Just before being loaded into an ambulance we asked his name:

"Brothers, I am Galimov," he said.

Source: http://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=563944&563944

Both survivors were airlifted to Moscow from Yaroslavl and Galimov is reported to be in a stable condition. The doctors hope that being an athlete gives him more chances to survive.



Russian TV:

The plane was unable to take off and went off the runway for about 400 yards. The length of a runway is 3 times longer than what is needed for Yak-42 plane. After that the plane hit a beacon antenna and crashed about 2 km from the airport. The last words of a pilot were a permission to take off, he didn't report any problems that had occured later.

Andrei Alekseev, the doctor at Moscow clinic where Galimov was eventually airlifted, said that with 90% of skin burns you feel like you are naked at -40°F, and you're almost defenseless from infections. Besides Galimov has severe respiratory burns. The chances are not good, but the doctor said that he had exceptions when the patients had survived in such situations before.

Господи Боже, спаси и сохрани Сашу Галимова. Аминь.
Gospodi Bozhe, spasi i sokhani Sasha Galimov. Amen.
Dear God, save and protect Sasha Galimov. Amen.

Update from Sport-Express:

The main threat to Galimov's life is inner inhalation burns that can provoke a pulmonary edema. Young man needs a trachea transplant to begin to breathe on his own. This operation is considered in the surgical world extremely complex, but Professor Alexeev does it masterfully.

But even if the surgery is a success, the next important thing is to prevent rejection of transplanted trachea by the body. If it will work, the hockey player will survive. But the probability of this outcome in general practice is not high.

Update:
Sad news, Alex Galimov's heart stopped in the morning of September 12, 2011, Moscow time. R.I.P....

TV Rossiya reports that he died after trachea transplant surgery.
Dr. Andrei Alekseev said that it was not true, no transplant surgery was performed.

@ovi8Alex Ovechkin 

R.I.P....Санька....(((((

CSN Washington, Sept. 12, 2011:

“I was very saddened to hear that Alex passed away this morning,” Ovechkin said after a visit to Saint James School in Falls Church, Va. “He was a great family man and a friend. He will be dearly missed.”

Sports.ru, Sept. 13, 2011:

More than 10 thousand people came forward to say goodbye to "Locomotive" forward Alexander Galimov in Yaroslavl, reported RIA Novosti with reference to the regional police administration.

Recall that the 26-year-old Galimov died in the Vishnevsky Surgery Institute's burn center yesterday morning due to cardiac arrest. Thus, out of 45 people who were aboard the crashed "Locomotive" charter only one survived, the flight Engineer Alexander Sizov. At this point his health is not threatened.

Galimov will be buried at Yaroslavl's Churilkovsky cemetery in the sector for the Muslims. The rest of "Locomotive" hockey players, a farewell to whom was passed on Saturday, buried at the Leontief cemetery.

---

Share |

Link to the latest post