As of reporting, at least 28 bodies β including those of three soldiers who were aboard the helicopter β have been pulled from the Potomac River amid an ongoing recovery effort.
The cause of the crash is still being investigated. Neither American Airlines nor U. But some passengers have been identified in media reports, including several young figure skaters, their coaches and their family members who were returning from a development camp and the U. Figure Skating Championships that happened last week in Wichita. Figure Skating confirmed in a Thursday statement that "several members of our skating community" were on the American Airlines flight that collided with the Army helicopter.
Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas," the statement said. The victims were two up-and-coming teenage skaters, their respective mothers and two former Russian figure skating professionals turned coaches. This will have long-reaching impacts for our skating community. Has not been skating very long and rocketed to the top of the sport. Very fun, very cerebral, a good thinker. His mom, Christine, was also on the flight. On Wednesday, Lane shared a series of photos on his Instagram celebrating his experience at the development camp in Wichita.
Loved by all. Shishkova and Naumov were former world champion skaters who represented Russia in the and Winter Olympics before turning to coaching. They had worked as coaches for the Skating Club of Boston since Maxim flew home on a separate flight Monday with Zeghibe. Both Alydia and Everly qualified for the national figure skating development team last week.
Before becoming a coach 15 years ago, Volyanskaya was a skater who represented the Soviet Union at competitions in the s. Not everyone mentioned in the post was on the plane that crashed, however. Both Emmanuel Savary and Zoe and Jerry Stone posted photos on their Instagram Stories referencing the crash on Thursday, confirming they were not on the flight.
