Russian skating couple, world champions in 1990s, were on crashed US plane

Russian-born ice skating coaches and former world champions Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were on board the American Airlines plane that crashed into the Potomac river in Washington on Wednesday night, the Kremlin and state media said.

Shishkova and Naumov, who were married to each other, won the world championships in pairs figure skating in 1994 and had reportedly lived in the United States since at least 1998, where they trained young ice skaters.

The couple were reported to have been returning from the competition and travelling with a group of young skaters. Russia’s Mash news outlet published a list of 13 skaters, many of them the children of Russian emigres to the United States, who it said were believed to have been on the plane.

Inna Volyanskaya, a former skater who competed for the Soviet Union, was also reported to have been on board, TASS said. She was a coach at the Washington figure skating club, according to its website.

Some Russian news agencies reported that Shishkova and Naumov’s son Maxim Naumov, who competed for the United States, may have also been on the flight, but the Daily Mail quoted another competitor, Anton Spiridonov, as saying he had seen the younger Naumov fly out two days earlier.

US Figure Skating, the governing body for figure skating in the United States, said athletes, coaches and family members were returning from National Development Camp held in conjunction with US Figure Skating Championships in Kansas.

“We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts,” it said in a statement.

The Kremlin expressed its condolences to the families of Russian citizens who lost their lives in the crash and said that the sad news that Shishkova and Naumov had been on board appeared to be confirmed.

“There were other of our fellow citizens on board. It’s bad news today from Washington. We are sorry and send our condolences to families and friends,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Russia’s figure skating federation expressed its condolences to those who had lost loved ones in the crash, but said it was unable to comment further.

An American Airlines regional passenger jet and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed into the Potomac after a midair collision near Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday night, officials said.

Officials have not said how many people died in the accident but have suggested that there may be no survivors.