More than a dozen figure skaters were aboard the American Airlines flight that crashed in the Potomac River on Wednesday night.
The skaters, their families, and coaches were traveling home to Washington, D.C., on the flight that was struck by a military helicopter as it approached the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The dozens of people aboard the plane are all believed to be dead, as are the three soldiers aboard the helicopter.
The skaters were returning to Washington from a developmental camp in Kansas.
In a statement, U.S. Figure Skating confirmed that “several members of our skating community were sadly aboard American Airlines Flight 5342. … These athletes, coaches, and family members were returning home from the National Development Camp held in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas.”
“At this point we do not believe there were any survivors,” Washington fire chief John Donnelly said Thursday morning. There were about 60 people on the flight, plus three soldiers on the military helicopter on a training flight, according to U.S. officials. Dozens of bodies had been pulled out of the Potomac by rescue crews as of early Thursday.
Russian skaters Evgenia Shishkova, 52, and Vadim Naumov, 55, who won a pairs world title in 1994 and skated in two Olympics, were on the flight, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Thursday morning. The couple had lived in the United States since the 1990s.
Shishkova and Naumov were listed as pairs coaches on The Skating Club of Boston’s website. Their son, Maxim Naumov, competed at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Kansas earlier this week, finishing fourth in the senior division for the third year in a row. Their former coach told Russian media that Maxim was not on the flight that crashed Wednesday night.
Two Skating Club of Boston athletes were on the flight, chief executive Doug Zeghibe said Thursday. Skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Lane, both 16, along with their mothers, were killed.
The Philadelphia Skating Club wrote on Facebook that “beloved members of our club” died in the crash.
A coach and two skaters from the University of Delaware Figure Skating Club were on the plane, the coach’s wife confirmed to several news outlets. Natalia Gudin told the Delaware News Journal that her husband, Alexandr Kirsanov, and two of his athletes, Angela Yang and Sean Kay, had died, and the athletes’ bodies had been recovered.
“I lost everything. I lost my husband. I lost my students. I lost my friends,” she told ABC News.
It appears many of the families were Russian immigrants and citizens. One skater told Russian media there were “about 14” skaters on their flight.
“Unfortunately, we see that this sad information is being confirmed,” Peskov said. “There were other fellow citizens there. Bad news today from Washington. We are sorry and send condolences to the families and friends who lost those of our fellow citizens who died in the plane crash.”
In a statement, the International Skating Union said the ISU and “the global skating community are deeply shocked by the tragic accident involving an American Airlines flight in Washington, D.C. last night. We are heartbroken to learn that Figure Skaters, along with their families, friends, and coaches, are understood to be among those on board.”
This is a developing news story and will be updated.
