The skaters, returning from a camp in Kansas, were among the 64 passengers on the plane that crashed after a midair collision with a US Army helicopter near Washington, DC.
The United States figure skating body has confirmed that several skaters were on an American Airlines regional passenger plane that crashed near Reagan Washington National Airport in Virginia.
The plane, with 64 passengers and crew, was en route to Washington, DC, from Wichita, Kansas, when it collided midair with a US Army helicopter late on Wednesday.
US Figure Skating said on Thursday that athletes, coaches and family members were returning from the National Development Camp held in conjunction with the US Figure Skating Championships in Kansas.
“We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts,” it said in a statement.
Officials have not said how many people died in the accident but have suggested there may be no survivors.
Meanwhile, Russian state media reported earlier that ice-skating coaches and former world champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were among those on board the plane.
Shishkova and Naumov, who were married, won the world championship in pairs figure skating in 1994.
Their son, Maxim, also a skater, may also have been on the plane, Russia’s TASS and RIA news agencies reported.
Inna Volyanskaya, a former skater who competed for the Soviet Union, was also reported to have been on board, TASS said. She was a coach at the Washington Figure Skating Club, according to its website.
An American Airlines regional passenger jet and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed into the Potomac River after a midair collision near Reagan Washington National Airport, officials said.
