Among the victims of the deadly crash between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter in Washington, D.C., were six members of the Skating Club of Boston, including a pair of teenage figure skaters, an official said Thursday.
Novice skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Lane, who were around 16, and both of their mothers were killed in Wednesday’s night’s collision, as were coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, the club’s executive director said at a news conference.
“This will have long reaching impacts for our community,” executive director Doug Zeghibe said.
Han and Lane had participated in a development camp attached to last weekend’s national championships in Wichita, Kansas. They were believed to be traveling back to Boston after connecting in D.C., Zeghibe said.
The Kremlin had previously identified Shishkova and Naumov as among the deceased.
Shishkova and Naumov were former skaters who won a 1994 world championship for pairs skating and also competed together at two Olympics. They had since worked in the U.S. as coaches, including at the high-end Skating Club of Boston since 2017.
Their 23-year-old son, Maxim Naumov, has finished fourth at senior nationals three years in a row, including last weekend.
“Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this tragedy,” the International Skating Union said in a statement. “Figure skating is more than a sport — it’s a close-knit family — and we stand together.”
Each of the 60 passengers and four crew members aboard the commercial American Airlines flight were feared dead after the jet collided with the Blackhawk helicopter and hurtled into the Potomac River.
It is unclear what caused the crash between the jet and helicopter, which was being used for a training flight and had three soldiers aboard.
On Thursday morning, officials said the focus had turned to a recovery operation.
“We don’t believe there are any survivors,” D.C. Fire chief John Donnelly said.
Wednesday’s tragedy occurred nearly 64 years after a flight traveling from New York to the figure skating world championships in Prague crashed on Feb. 15, 1961.
That crash in Brussels, Belgium, killed all 72 people aboard, including 18 members of the U.S. team and 16 others who were traveling with them.