Figure skaters aboard American Airlines flight that crashed in DC
Russian skaters and coaches Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were aboard the crashed flight returning from Kansas.
Ilia Malinin, the reigning world and national champion in men’s figure skating, signaled that he was not aboard the plane that fatally collided with a military helicopter over the Potomac River on Wednesday.
U.S. Figure Skating has said in a statement that “several members” of its community were aboard the flight, which was inbound from Wichita, Kansas – the site of last week’s national figure skating championships. Malinin, 20, lives and trains in Northern Virginia.
“I hope and pray for everyone who was on that flight is OK. God Bless,” Malinin wrote on Instagram.
Malinin won his third consecutive national title over the weekend, clinching the victory by landing six quadruple jumps in his long program Sunday. It is unclear when or whether he traveled back to the Washington area.
Details were still emerging early Thursday morning about the victims of the crash, in which a passenger plane with 64 people aboard collided with an Army helicopter near Reagan Washington National Airport. Authorities said Thursday that they had recovered 28 bodies from the scene and do not believe there are any survivors.
