AFP, Gangneung :
Russian Olympic figure skating team captain Ekaterina Bobrova paid an emotional tribute Monday to the 71 victims of a plane crash near Moscow, saying that despite securing a silver medal “it’s a dark day for us”.
The 27-year-old led the Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) to silver in the team event behind Canada, their second medal of the Games.
“For me it’s difficult to say the following as we are very happy that we won but in our country there was an air crash last night — 71 people perished,” she said.
Her voice cracking she continued: “As team captain and on behalf of all the coaches I would like to convey my sincere condolences to the families, it’s a great sorrow for our country.
“With this tragedy it’s a dark day for us, a day of sorrow.”
In one of Russia’s worst aviation accidents an Antonov An-148 plane went down in the Ramensky district on the outskirts of Moscow on Sunday after taking off from Domodedovo airport in the capital.
Sixty-five passengers and six crew members were on board, Russia’s office of transport investigations said in a statement. Earlier Bobrova had saluted the vocal flag-waving Russian fans at the Gangneung Ice Arena.
