The American Airlines jet involved in a fatal crash in Washington D.C. on Wednesday night was carrying members of U.S. Figure Skating, their coaches and family members.
The crash reportedly occurred when American Eagle Flight 5342 (American Eagle is a subsidiary of American Airlines) collided with an Army helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport and crashed into the Potomac River just before 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday night. Sixty-four people were aboard the commercial flight and three soldiers were aboard the helicopter, with officials saying they aren’t expecting any survivors.
In a statement released to multiple media outlets, U.S. Figure Skating confirmed that members of its team were on the flight and were returning from the National Development Camp that was held in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships that were held in Wichita, Kansas, over the weekend. According to the U.S. Figure Skating website, the camp features the “top performing juvenile, intermediate and novice athletes at the U.S. Sectional Finals.”
“U.S. Figure Skating can confirm that several members of our skating community were sadly aboard American Airlines Flight 5342, which collided with a helicopter yesterday evening in Washington, D.C.,” U.S. Figure Skating said in a statement. “We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts. We will continue to monitor the situation and will release more information as it becomes available.”
While U.S. Figure Skating has yet to reveal any of the identities of the passengers, the Kremlin said that coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were aboard the plane. The couple won the world championships in pairs figure skating in 1994 and had reportedly been training young figure skaters since moving to the United States in 1998. Their son, Maxim Naumov, is also a competitive figure skater for the U.S., according to ESPN.
“There were other of our fellow citizens there. Bad news from Washington today,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday morning.
At this point, a cause for the crash has yet to be revealed. We’ll update this story with more information as it becomes available.
