Plane crashes – Last goodbye to Pavol Demitra
It’s 9am on the 15th September 2011 and I am just watching a movie Alive from 1993 about the Uruguayan rugby team guys who survived in the snowy Andes. They play this movie today on purpose. It is the last goodbye to Pavol Demitra, Slovak hockey player in Trencin, Slovakia, and his funeral on the 16th September. I think the movie is supposed to show how difficult it is to survive a plane crash.
Maybe you are asking what this post has to do with traveling. I say a lot. It is not just of personal matter for me as Pavol Demitra was from the same country like me and I’ve always liked hockey which is one of the few things Slovakia is known for.
But all the people who travel, they have to travel by plane sometimes as well, even if they are scared of flying or hate heights. Air travel is just so quicker … and still safer, even though there are more and more plane crashes recently. I don’t want to freak you out with this post, not at all. There is a very very small percentage of all the flights for something bad to happen.
I know a lot about plane crash and possible problems with the airplanes after 2 years of working as a cabin crew. I learned a lot not just about how to try avoid any problems or deal with them if they happen, but about a sort of a survival after the crash, too. Fire, bird strike, storm, technical problems etc are one of the main reasons of a plane crash.
Most of them happen during the take-off or landing. Unfortunately, it was the case of the airplane Yak-42 with KHL Lokomotiv Yaroslavl players flying to Minsk on the 7th September 2011 for the first game of the season. We all heard of it on the TV. The plane landed on the Volga river – ditching is almost impossible to survive – and 44 people out of 45 died, including 3 Czech players (Karel Rachunek, Jan Marek and Josef Vasicek) and the rest Russian. A horrible tragedy not just for the hockey, Slovakia, Czech republic and Russia, but unfortunately for the whole world. I saw the news about it on TV a couple of minutes after it happened and my whole body was covered up with the goosebumps. It reminded me of a few problem flights I had.
I am sure all the Lokomotiv Yugoslavl who died were not just very talented hockey players, but as well great persons. At least Pavol Demitra was. During his last visit to Slovakia he fulfilled the dreams of a young boy on a wheelchair – meeting with the boy’s idol Pavol Demitra himself. And Pavol bought him a special wheelchair and playstation, too. This act makes all the Slovaks mourn even more. Today afternoon on the 15th September many people will give the last goodbye to Pavol Demitra at the hockey stadium in Trencin. And then the whole Slovakia will watch on the TV. Thousands and thousands of people crying. Sad moment.
photo credits: topky.sk
Pavol Demitra, we will always remember you with a smile on your face, as our amazing hockey player and a person with a big heart!
Crazy Sexy Fun Traveler
| #
Comment@ Ron | Active Planet Travels:
Yes, we tend to take things for granted which we should not … and most of the time we don’t realise it until something happnes.
Ron | Active Planet Travels
| #
Wow…it’s so easy to take for granted the modern accommodies of travel nowadays that we all just so easily forget the dangers of everything we do. Hopefully these things will continue to be “less likely” to happen and that everyone continues to be more aware of our fragile lives. RIP to all who were on that flight that dreadful day.
crazy sexy fun traveler
| #
Comment@ Raul (@ilivetotravel):
Right, right! Everyone appreciate mor ewhat we get, please!
Raul (@ilivetotravel)
| #
A reminder for all of us who love traveling to not take for granted how easy it is and to be appreciative of all the crew (on the plane and on the ground) that makes flying safe for us!
Jordan Oram (@maplemusketeer)
| #
Living in BC I also heard about this right after it happened. I enjoyed watching Demitra play here in Vancouver with the Canucks and also with the Slovakian National team.
He is remembered here on the West Coast of Canada as well as in Slovakia.
crazy sexy fun traveler
| #
I agree, Demitra was a real player!
crazy sexy fun traveler
| #
Comment@ Maria Alexandra @latinAbroad:
Me too. And not just once :(
Maria Alexandra @latinAbroad
| #
This made me cry =( Horrible tragedy…
crazy sexy fun traveler
| #
Yes, something horrible!
Sheril Benedict
| #
I heard in news about this incident .So sad ….