Official ceremony in honor of Czech victims of Yaroslavl plane crash held at Prague’s Old Town Square

Thousands of people gathered in Prague’s Old Town Square on Sunday to pay their respects to ice hockey stars Karel Rachůnek, Jan Marek and Josef Vašíček, the three Czech players who were killed in a plane crash near the Russian city of Yaroslavl on Wednesday. The official commememorative ceremony was moderated by Czech TV sports commentator Robert Zárub and opened by ten minutes of silence in honor of the plane crash victims. A sermon by Prague Archbishop Dominik Duka followed. The president of the Czech ice hockey federation Tomáš Král, famous ice hockey players such as Jaromír Jágr, Patrick Eliáš as well as the coaches Alois Hadamczik and Vladimír Růžička attended the ceremony. As a tribute to the three deceased players, their numbers – Rachůnek’s four, Marek’s 15 and Vašíček’s 63 – will not be used by the Czech national team in the future.

On Wednesday, a Yak-42 plane came down shortly after take off from the Russian city of Yaroslavl and burst into flames. The players were taking off for Minsk for the first match of the season. Among the 43 victims were Russian and European hockey players.