WASHINGTON — Passengers aboard the American Airlines flight that collided with an Army helicopter and crashed into the frigid waters of the Potomac River included figure skaters returning from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and two of their Russian coaches.
There were 60 passengers and four crew members on the American Airlines flight on Wednesday and three soldiers aboard the training flight on the Blackhawk helicopter. Hope of rescuing any survivors evaporated by daybreak.
“We are now at the point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation,” said John Donnelly, the fire chief in the nation’s capital, on Thursday morning. “We don’t believe there are any survivors.”
Donnelly said he’s confident that the remains of those killed in the crash will be recovered, but it may take some time.
U.S. Figure Skating said in a statement that several skaters, coaches and their family members were on the commercial flight after attending a development camp that followed the championships that wrapped up Sunday in Wichita, Kan.
“We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts,” U.S. Figure Skating said in a statement.
Two of those coaches were identified by the Kremlin as a Russian couple who were pairs world champions 30 years ago.
It’s not the first time that the U.S. figure skating community has been rocked by an air tragedy. The 18-member U.S. team that was set to compete in the 1961 world championships at Prague died when Sabena Flight 548 crashed on Feb. 15, 1961, in Berg-Kampenhout, about 45 minutes outside of Brussels. Also killed were six U.S. coaches and four skating officials, along with some family members.
American Airlines set up a hotline as well as centers in Washington and Wichita for people searching for information about family members who may have been aboard Wednesday’s downed flight.
Here are the passengers identified in Wednesday night’s crash so far:
Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov. Shishkova and Naumov won the pairs title at the 1994 world championships in Chiba, Japan. They competed twice in the Olympics.
The Skating Club of Boston lists them as coaches. Their son, Maxim Naumov, is a competitive figure skater for the U.S.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Shishkova and Naumov were aboard the plane.
“Unfortunately, we see that this sad information is being confirmed,” Peskov said. “There were other fellow citizens there. Bad news today from Washington. We are sorry and send condolences to the families and friends who lost those of our fellow citizens who died in the plane crash.”
The International Skating Union sent a statement saying it was deeply shocked and heartbroken.