American and Russian figure skaters were aboard, crashed a plane

A pair of 16-year-old skaters, their mothers and two Russian coaches were among the passengers aboard an airplane that hit a helicopter over Washington on Wednesday night, says the Boston group club.

They were called teenagers Spencer Lane and Gina Khan, their mothers Christine Lane and Jin Khan, and their Russian coaches Yevgeni Shishkova and Vadim Naumov – who are former world champion skaters.

US officials say they do not expect survivors of the crash and that at least 28 bodies have been restored from the site.

The plane wore 64 passengers and crew when it collided in the middle of the air with a US Army helicopter shortly after 21:00 local time on Wednesday (02:00 GMT).

He then fell into the Ice River Potomak.

About 15 people in the flight may have participated in figure skating, said an unnamed source to the Reuters Agency.

“Several” athletes, coaches and family members participating in us figure skating were in the flight, said US governing body in the United States. It will still give more names.

Giving details of the club’s victims, the chief executive of the Boston Doug Zagbean Figure Skating Club, told reporters: “Six is ​​a terrifying number for us.” He continued to say, “It will be long, reaching the impact of our skating community.”

Earlier on Thursday, Russia confirmed that some of its citizens were on the plane after Russia media reported the names of Naumov and Shishkova.

In its own statement, the American figure skating said “several members of our skating community were unfortunately on board the American Airlines Flight 5342.” The group was returning home from Wichita’s development camp, Kansas, added to the statement.

Wichita hosted the US National Figure Championships from January 20 to January 26. After the race, there was a camp for the development of young skaters.

Shishkova and Naumov are retired Russian couples skaters who won the 1994 World Cup. They also competed at the Olympics, and later continue to start their coaching career in the United States.

Inna Volyanskaya, a former skater of the Soviet Union, was also aboard the flight, according to the Russian news agency TAS.

Rescue crews continue to look for the freezing waters of the Potomak River, where the remains of the two aircraft remain. On Thursday morning, employees said they had switched to recovery surgery.

Nearby, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is landing all flights after the Wednesday evening crash.

In addition to the undisclosed total skaters, limited information on board people has emerged.

In 1961, the US Figure Skating Team was killed in a plane crash in Belgium on the way to Prague.