The United States Figure Skating Federation announced that there were figure skating coaches and competitors on board the crashed American Airlines plane that collided with a Black Hawk military helicopter in Washington and fell into the Potomac River tonight, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
According to TASS, the 1994 Russian world champions in pairs, Evgenia Shishkina and Vadim Naumov, who are a family, were on board.
"We are shocked by this unspeakable tragedy and we sympathize with the families of the victims with all our hearts," the statement from the American federation reads. According to Reuters, up to 15 figure skaters may have been on board the plane, which arrived at Ronald Reagan National Airport from Wichita, Kansas.
TASS reported that among the 64 people on board was the bronze medalist of the USSR championship in pairs Inna Volyanskaya. She is a coach at a Washington figure skating club. The Kremlin confirmed today that there were Russian figure skaters on board the crashed plane and expressed condolences to the families of the deceased, Reuters reported.
"Unfortunately, we see that these sad data are confirmed," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov regarding the information that there were Russian figure skaters among the passengers. "There were also other our fellow citizens," the spokesman added. Asked whether Russian President Vladimir Putin would personally express condolences to his American counterpart Donald Trump, Peskov said that no high-level contacts were planned for now.