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Russian, Turkish Presidents mourn for victims of Yaroslavl jet crash

One of the walls of the Ice Sports Center virtually drowns in flowers and the hockey team's banners

YAROSLAVL, September 8 (Itar-Tass) — Presidents Dmitry Medvedev of Russia and Abdullah Gul of Turkey have paid tribute to the memory of victims of Wednesday jet crash near Yaroslavl, a city on the Volga River.

The crash of a Yakovlev-42 jet left 43 people dead, including Russia's top-rated Lokomotiv ice hockey team practically in full force. Only two persons survived the accident.

After a session of the world political forum, held at Lokomotiv's Arena-2000 home stadium, the two heads of state went out of the building of the Ice Sports Center and came up to the entrance, where a memorial consisting of flowers and candles has arisen sporadically since Wednesday afternoon.

One of the walls of the Ice Sports Center virtually drowns in flowers and the hockey team's banners.

Medvedev and Gul brought bouquets of claret-colored roses. Upon laying them at the memorial, they spent several more minutes there with their heads bowed.

The grandeur of the bouquets they brought immersed soon enough under the heaps of other flowers, which the residents of Yaroslavl continued bringing en masse.