Interrupted flight: Russian figure skaters were among the dead in the plane crash in the USA

On board the plane that fell in Washington were former members of the Russian national figure skating team in pairs Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, as well as the bronze medalist of the USSR championship in pairs skating Inna Volyanskaya. More about the tragedy with the plane and the victims of the crash - in the material "Izvestia".

Airplane crash in the Potomac River on January 30: victims and casualties

Among the passengers of the plane that fell in Washington were figure skaters, this information was confirmed by the Federation of figure skating in the United States. They were returning to Washington from the city of Wichita, Kansas, after the US Figure Skating Championships.

According to TASS, on board the plane were world champions in figure skating in pairs as part of the Russian national team Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov (1994), as well as the bronze medalist of the USSR championship in pairs skating Inna Volyanskaya (1980).

An American Airlines passenger plane crashed into the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Airport after colliding with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter. The tragedy occurred 15 minutes away from downtown Washington, DC. As a result, the aircraft broke apart into several pieces.

There were 60 passengers and 4 crew members on board. At first it was reported that most of the skaters who were on board were children of Russian emigrants, but so far this information has not been officially confirmed.

In total, according to the latest from the river extracted the bodies of 19 dead. If at first it was reported about four survivors of the airplane crash, now it has become known that all 64 people died. In the search operation at the site of the tragedy involved 300 rescuers, divers managed to get to the cockpit and found an object that looks like a black box.

Who are Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov

Evgenia Shishkova, 52, and Vadim Naumov, 55, are natives of St. Petersburg and were world champions in pairs skating in 1994. They also became silver and bronze medalists of the world championships in pair skating, won one silver and four bronze medals of the European Championships, won the final of the Grand Prix of the International Skating Union in the season-1995/96.

After the end of their athletic careers, Shishkova and Naumov moved to the United States and engaged in coaching, according to unconfirmed reports, both have American citizenship.
In their few interviews, the coaches claimed that the Russian athletes have no equal.

Who is Inna Volyanskaya

Inna Volyanskaya is a 58-year-old figure skater who performed in a pair with Valery Spiridonov. They won a bronze medal at the USSR Championship in 1980. In recent years she was a coach at the Ashburn Ice House team from Virginia.

Which of the skaters was not on board

Appeared in the Network list of skaters who were allegedly on board the crashed airplane, turned out to be incorrect. According to RIA "Novosti", none of the listed skaters were on the flight.

On Thursday, the Telegram channel Mash published a list of 13 skaters who were tentatively on the flight from Wichita. Among them were Andrew Torgashev, Maxim Naumov, Alisa Efimova, Misha Mitrofanov, Katie Macbeth, Daniil Parkman, Christina Carreira, Anthony Ponomarenko, Alexei Shchepetov, Annabel Morozova, Artem Markelov, Anton Spiridonov and Danila Savelyev.

It was initially reported that Shishkova and Naumov's son, 24-year-old figure skater Maxim Naumov, was on board. However, it later turned out that he returned home on January 27. Information about other athletes is being clarified.

Reaction to the airplane tragedy in the US

Representatives of the world of sports expressed their condolences in connection with the tragedy in comments to Izvestia.

"This is a terrible tragedy, so many children. We are shedding tears together with the whole world," TV presenter Dmitry Guberniev said.

"It is very sad when such wonderful people pass away in such a ridiculous way," said Alexei Mishin, coach of many Olympic champions.

According to Svetlana Zhurova, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs and Olympic speed skating champion, any catastrophe is an unpredictable tragedy; we should wait for the results of the investigation, which will surely be presented to the public. Besides, she noted to Izvestia, as long as the exact list of passengers has not been published, there is still hope that someone did not get on that plane.