They include two teenage athletes, their mothers and two former Russian stars, according to their club in Boston.
US and Russian figure skaters were on board crashed plane
A pair of 16-year-old skaters, their mothers, and two Russian coaches are among the victims of the deadly midair collision in Washington DC, a “horrific tragedy” that has cast a shadow across the figure skating world.
Those six victims, which included teenagers Spencer Lane and Jinna Han, were involved with a skating club in Boston.
“Skating is a very close and tight-knit community…I think for all of us, we have lost family,” Doug Zeghibe, the club’s chief executive, said on Thursday.
The group was returning from a development camp for young skaters held in connection with the recent US Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas.
US officials do not expect any survivors from the fatal crash between a commercial airplane and a military helicopter in Washington DC on Wednesday night.
Twenty-eight bodies have been recovered from scene so far.
And at least 14 of the passengers on the downed jet are believed to have been involved in the sport.
US Figure Skating, the sport’s governing body, confirmed that “several” athletes, coaches and family members involved with the sport were on the flight.
It did not respond to the BBC’s request for confirmation on an additional list of skaters and their family believed on board.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating multiple factors as it looks for a cause of the crash.
Rescuers will continue to search the freezing waters of the Potomac River where the remnants of both aircraft remain. Sixty-four people were on the American Airlines flight and three on the helicopter.
Besides the undisclosed total number of skaters, limited information has emerged about the passengers and flight crews on board.
The University of Delaware said that Sasha Kirsanov, a former university coach, died in the crash.
“We believe two young skaters who were members of the UD Figure Skating Club also were on board,” the university’s president said in the statement, but provided no further detail.
Other clubs, including the Philadelphia Skating Club and Humane Society and the Skating Club of Northern Virginia, released statements saying they were devastated by the loss, but did not disclose the names of any victims.
Inna Volyanskaya, a former skater for the Soviet Union, was also on board the flight, according to Russian news agency Tass.
The others lost from Mr Zeghibe’s Boston club were Christine Lane and Jin Han, the mothers of the two young skaters, and Russian coaches Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.
“We are devastated and completely at a loss for words,” an emotional Mr Zeghibe told media from the club on Thursday, calling the collision a “horrific tragedy”.
He described Spencer Lane as the future of skating, a prodigy who was “rocketing” to the top of his sport.
Spencer had “natural grace and beauty and understanding of ice and speed”, another coach, Elin Scharn, said.
“I’ve never seen somebody coming to it so fast, so naturally.”
Both Spencer and Jinna Han were “leaders” at the club, Mr Zeghibe said.
Jinna was a “serious competitor, but so nice about it”, he said. “She was loved by all.”
Coaches Shishkova and Naumov were retired Russian pairs skaters who won the world championships in 1994. They also competed at the Olympics, and went on to coach in the US.
The pair had “high standards”, Mr Zeghibe said. “But they were so kind.”
They leave behind their 24-year-old son, Max, who followed his parents into figure skating.
Getty ImagesNancy Kerrigan, an Olympic medalist and an alumnae of the Boston skating club, came to pay her respects to the pair.
“I’ve never seen anyone love skating as much as these two, and that’s why I think it hurts so much,” she said.
“Much like everyone here has been saying, I’m not sure how to process it.”
For many in the skating world, Wednesday’s crash bears an upsetting resemblance to another fatal accident: the 1961 plane crash that saw the 18-person US figure skating team killed on their way to the world championships in Prague.
It took decades for the sport to recover from that loss, Mr Zeghibe said.
“It had long reaching implications,” he said. “When you use coaches like this, you lose the future of the sport as well.”
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