NEW YORK, January 30. /TASS/. As many as 14 figure skaters are feared dead in a collision between an American Airlines plane and a Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River in Washington D.C., NBC News reported, citing Skating Club of Boston CEO Doug Zeghibe.
According to him, six victims of the crash were affiliated with the Skating Club of Boston: two coaches, two skaters and their two mothers.
Earlier, an American Airlines passenger jet and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter collided near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The American Airlines flight, en route from Wichita, Kansas, was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members. There were at least three service members aboard the helicopter. Upon the collision, both aircraft crashed into the Potomac River. According to media reports, 28 bodies have been recovered from the river. According to the authorities, there is no hope of finding any survivors.
The Wichita Eagle newspaper reports that members of the US junior figure skating team were aboard the plane. A source told TASS that Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who won the world championships in pairs figure skating for Russia in 1994, were also among the flight’s passengers, as well as Inna Volyanskaya, Soviet bronze medalist in pairs figure skating.