DDN – Six members of Boston’s Skating Club were murdered when an American Airlines passenger flight collided with an Army helicopter late Wednesday night.
The Skating Club of Boston’s Doug Zeghibe claimed that two of its athletes, Jinna Han and Spencer Lane, as well as their mothers, Jin Han and Christine Lane, were slain.
The team’s coaches, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, were also slain. Shishkova and Naumov were two well-known Russian skaters who represented their country twice in the Olympics. They’d been coaching for the club since 2017.
“This will have long-term consequences for our community,” he stated during a clearly upset press conference.
U.S. Figure Skating had already confirmed that several athletes, coaches, and family members were aboard the trip. They were returning from Wichita, Kansas, where they had competed in the United States Figure Skating Championships and a training camp the previous week.
“U.S. Figure Skating can confirm that numerous members of our skating community were tragically killed when American Airlines Flight 5342 collided with a helicopter in Washington, D.C. last evening. The competitors, coaches, and family members were going home from the National Development Camp, which was conducted in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas, according to the organization’s statement.
The plane, which was carrying sixty passengers and four crew members, crashed with an Army chopper carrying three soldiers above the Potomac River.
The plane was approaching Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C. According to officials, the helicopter was conducting a training flight.
“We are grieved by this horrible tragedy and keep the victims’ families near to our hearts. “We will continue to monitor the situation and will release additional information as it becomes available,” U.S. Figure Skating stated.
Officials suspect that there were no survivors.
Reference: Six Members of Boston Skating Club Among Those Killed in the Plane Collision
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