Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, Russian champion figure skaters who won the World Figure Skating Championship in Pairs in 1994 were among the passengers on American Airlines Flight 5342 that clashed with an U.S. Army helicopter on Wednesday, at around 9 p.m.
USA Figure Skating revealed that several other members of its skating community were also on board.
The skaters, their coaches and relatives were returning from the National Development Camp held in Wichita, Kansas.
“We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts,” the statement by the USA Figure Skating read.
“We will continue to monitor the situation and will release more information as it becomes available.”
Shishkova and Naumov’s son, 23-year-old Maxim, was also part of the camp and many feared that he was also on board, but a teammate, Anton Spiridonov, claimed he left Wichita on Monday and didn’t fly together with his parents.
“I wasn’t on the flight. People I knew, I think, were,” Spiridonov said. “Maxim Naumov was not on board – he left Wichita on Monday.
“He was at the airport with me, going through security at the same time.”
As per Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti, Russia’s oldest newspaper, the couple sent their son a message, writing how proud they were of his accomplishment and edning on the fourth place in a competition help days prior to the crash.
“We are proud of you, Maxim,” the couple wrote in a social media post. “He climbed to the podium at the Nationals after seventh place in the short program. This beautiful and emotional performance is the result of teamwork. Maxim has earned his place in the team of champions of four continents.”
The couple moved to the United States from the Russian city of Leningrad in 1998, where they became coaches.
Olga Yermolina, a spokesperson for Russia’s figure skating league, told Zvezda that there were no active Russian figure skaters on Flight 5342.
“We have to wait for the official lists,” Yermolina said.
“These are people with other passports who once performed or trained with the USSR or Russian national team, but now they are US citizens.”
DC’s fire and emergency medical services chief John Donnelly said they believe all of the 64 passengers that were on board are believed to be dead.
“We don’t believe there are any survivors from this accident and we have recovered 27 people from the plane and one from the helicopter,” he said.
Further, the Potomac river, where the plane plummeted, had recently frozen, making it extremely difficult for police divers and boats to search the water for bodies.
Officials expect the operation to last for several days.
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