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Investigators to meet with plane crash survivor

Doctors said Sizov is in stably serious condition

MOSCOW, September 12 (Itar-Tass) — The investigators handling the case over the Yak-42 crash near Yaroslavl will meet with Alexander Sizov, the only survivor, after the condition of his health permits.

"Sizov will be questioned within the framework of the criminal case, as soon as the doctors and the condition of his health permit," Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told Itar-Tass.

The Yak-42 plane carrying the Lokomotive hockey team -- headed for Belarus for a game with Dinamo Minsk -- met with an accident near Yaroslavl on September 7. Of the 45 people on board, just two survived the crash: hockey player Alexander Galimov and engineer Alexander Sizov. On Monday morning, Galimov died of critical burns in a Moscow hospital.

The plane carried the complete Lokomotiv team - 37 people in all. It comprised athletes and coaches from Russia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Latvia, Sweden, Belarus and Ukraine.

Meanwhile, doctors said Sizov is in stably serious condition.

"The condition of Alexander Sizov's health enabled the doctors to transfer him from an intensive therapy ward (at the Sklifasovsky institute - eds Itar-Tass) to an ordinary ward," a doctor told Tass.

A check by prosecutors did not find any violations during repairs or maintenance of the Yak-42 plane, an official at the Volga Transport Prosecutor's Office said on Monday.

"No violations of the federal legislation regulating the provision of services in repairing or maintenance of aircraft have been exposed," the official said.

According to the prosecutors, the Tupar Tekhnik company replaced Yak's right engine and performed maintenance works on the aircraft in August.

"The repairs were completed in accordance with the requirements of the regulations for Yak-42 operation, developed by the Yakovlev design bureau and other technical instructions. After the works, the aircraft was found to be in good order, which is confirmed by the certificate dated August 16, 2011," the prosecutors said.