In brief
The incident has left at least 28 confirmed dead, including multiple individuals associated with the Figure Skating Club of Boston, as search efforts transition to recovery mode.
The recent aviation tragedy has deeply shocked the figure skating community as several prominent members were aboard a plane that collided with a helicopter over Washington DC. Among the deceased are former Russian world champions and current coaches Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, confirmed by their Boston-based skating club. The ill-fated flight, operated by American Airlines and carrying 64 passengers and crew, crashed into the freezing waters of the Potomac River after the mid-air collision occurred just after 9 PM local time on Wednesday. According to reports, the group included two young skaters, 16-year-olds Spencer Lane and Jinna Hahn, alongside their mothers—Christine Lane and Jin Hahn—as well as Naumov and Shishkova. "Six is a horrific number for us," stated Doug Zeghibe, CEO of the Figure Skating Club of Boston, reflecting on the devastating impact this has on their community.Russian officials confirmed that some of their citizens were involved, as names of Naumov and Shishkova surfaced in the media. The US figure skating governing body has expressed condolences, acknowledging that several members of their community were tragically on board the flight, which was returning from a development camp in Wichita, Kansas, following the national championships.In addition to the mentioned skaters and coaches, Inna Volyanskaya, a former Soviet skater, was also reportedly among the passengers. As rescue operations evolved into a recovery effort, search teams continued to comb the frigid waters for debris. Meanwhile, flights at nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport were grounded following the incident, as live coverage of the crash continued to unfold. This disaster recalls the sorrowful memory of the 1961 plane crash that claimed the lives of an entire US figure skating team.
