{"id":15650,"date":"2025-01-30T17:12:46","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T17:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/used82.com\/?p=15650"},"modified":"2025-01-30T17:12:46","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T17:12:46","slug":"married-world-champion-figure-skaters-were-on-american-airlines-flight-that-collided-with-helicopter-as-no-survivors-expected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/used82.com\/?p=15650","title":{"rendered":"Married world champion figure skaters were on American Airlines flight that collided with helicopter as no survivors expected"},"content":{"rendered":"

Russian ice skating champs were onboard the fatal plane crash over Washington last night<\/h2>\n

A married couple who were world champion figure skaters have been confirmed as passengers on board the American Airlines flight that fatally collided with a helicopter last night.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The\u00a0American Airlines<\/a>\u00a0Flight 5342 had departed Wichita, Kansas, and was expecting to land at Ronald Reagan\u00a0Washington<\/a>\u00a0National Airport when it\u00a0collided<\/a>\u00a0mid-air with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter at around 9pm on Wednesday (January 29).<\/p>\n

The airplane was reportedly carrying 60\u00a0travellers<\/a>\u00a0and four crew members, while three were onboard the helicopter, when the aircrafts collided some 300 feet above the Potomac River.<\/p>\n

\n
\"The<\/div>\n

The aircrafts fell into the Potomac River (Andrew Harnik\/Getty Images)<\/cite><\/div>\n

The water is still being extensively searched by\u00a0emergency<\/a>\u00a0services who have confirmed today it expects to find no survivors in what is shaping up to be the deadliest US air disaster in more than 20 years.<\/p>\n

Now, married world champion figure skaters and coaches of the\u00a0sport<\/a>, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, have been confirmed as passengers on the plane, according to local news reports in\u00a0Russia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The pair had won the world championships in figure skating together three decades ago in 1994 and had reportedly been living in the US since at least 1998,\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0The Mirror.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Maxim<\/div>\n

Maxim and his parents (@maxim.naumov_\/Instagram)<\/cite><\/div>\n

Russia’s TASS and RIA news agencies also report it is feared their son, Maxim, was also on board the plane along with more than dozen other Russian figure skaters.<\/p>\n

Maxim and other skaters had competed in the US figure skating championships in Wichita just days ago.<\/p>\n

Inna Volyanskaya, who had competed for the Soviet Union and coached the Washington figure skating club, is also believed to have been on board.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Russian<\/div>\n

Russian pairs figure skaters Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova at the World Figure Skating Championships in Edmonton, 1996 (Jeff HAYNES \/ AFP) (Photo by JEFF HAYNES\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/cite><\/div>\n

Another skater, Spencer Lane, also uploaded a photograph of the plane’s wing before its takeoff in Wichita with the caption: “ICT TO DCA,” referencing the codes for Wichita and Reagan airports, The New York Post\u00a0reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The US Figure Skating has since issued a statement via the\u00a0Olympics<\/a>\u00a0website, confirming skaters were on board the flight.<\/p>\n

The statement reads: “Several members of our skating community were sadly aboard American Airlines Flight 5342, which collided with a helicopter yesterday evening in Washington, D.C. These athletes, coaches, and family members were returning home from the National Development Camp held in conjunction with the US Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas.”<\/p>\n

\n
\"The<\/div>\n

The family posted this snap of Maxim at the event just two days ago (Instagram\/@team.genia.vadim)<\/cite><\/div>\n

“We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims\u2019 families closely in our hearts,” it continues. “We will continue to monitor the situation and will release more information as it becomes available.”<\/p>\n

Another statement by The International Skating Union (ISU) released on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0reads in part: “We are heartbroken to learn that Figure Skaters, along with their families, friends, and coaches, are understood to be among those on board.<\/p>\n

“Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this tragedy. Figure skating is more than a sport\u2014it\u2019s a close-knit family\u2014and we stand together. We remain in close contact with U.S. Figure Skating and offer our full support during this incredibly difficult time.”<\/p>\n

\n
\"Spencer<\/div>\n

Spencer Lane uploaded this image of the jet on the runaway in Wichita (Instagram\/@spencerskates26)<\/cite><\/div>\n

CBS News reports the plane has split into multiple pieces and is currently eight feet deep in the river.<\/p>\n

District of Columbia fire chief, John Donnelly, also said in a sombre press conference today (Thursday, January 30) that 28 bodies have been found to date and have switched their rescue mission to a recovery operation.<\/p>\n

If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact\u00a0<\/em>GrieveWell<\/em><\/a>\u00a0on (734) 975-0238, or email\u00a0info@grievewell.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Russian ice skating champs were onboard the fatal plane crash over Washington last night A…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"views":435,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/used82.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}