WASHINGTON — Passengers aboard the American Airlines flight that collided with an Army helicopter and crashed into the frigid waters of the Potomac River included figure skaters returning from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and two of their Russian coaches.
There were 60 passengers and four crew members on the American Airlines flight on Wednesday and three soldiers aboard the training flight on the Blackhawk helicopter. Hope of rescuing any survivors evaporated by daybreak.
"We are now at the point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation,'' said John Donnelly, the fire chief in the nation's capital, on Thursday morning. ''We don't believe there are any survivors.''
Donnelly said he's confident that the remains of those killed in the crash will be recovered, but it may take some time.
U.S. Figure Skating said in a statement that several skaters, coaches, and their family members were on the commercial flight after attending a development camp that followed the championships that wrapped up Sunday in Wichita, Kansas.
''We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims' families closely in our hearts,'' U.S. Figure Skating said in a statement.
Two of those coaches were identified by the Kremlin as a Russian couple who were pairs world champions 30 years ago.
It's not the first time that the U.S. figure skating community has been rocked by an air tragedy. The 18-member U.S. team that was set to compete in the 1961 world championships at Prague died when Sabena Flight 548 crashed on Feb. 15, 1961, in Berg-Kampenhout, about 45 minutes outside of Brussels. Also killed were six U.S. coaches and four skating officials, along with some family members.
