The US’s deadliest aviation disaster in almost a quarter of a century occurred when an American Airlines jet and an army helicopter collided mid-air near Washington, D.C.
The bodies of dozens of people killed in the Washington DC plane crash have been recovered from the Potomac River. The mid-air collision involving an American Airlines jet and army helicopter is the US’s deadliest aviation disaster in almost a quarter of a century. In total, 67 people died in the incident, which happened just before 9pm local time on Wednesday (2am the following morning UK time).
The crash happened while the passenger jet was on final approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport near Washington, D.C. On Friday recovery efforts continued and 40 bodies have so far been recovered from the river as well as the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder of the American Airlines plane. The names of some of those who were onboard the aircraft are now starting to be announced. US and Russian figure skaters Among the victims was promising young skating duo Jinna Han and Spencer Lane, according to Doug Zeghibe, CEO of the Skating Club of Boston. Their mothers, Jin Han and Christine Lane, along with their coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, also died in the crash. Han and Lane, believed to be around 16, were on their way back from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Spencer, who was from Barrington, Rhode Island, took part in his first professional show in December with Elin Schran’s company, Joy Skate Productions. “He started to discover this connection with the audience and that joy that he was giving to other people through his gift,” Mr Schran said. In a statement, the Lane family recalled Christine Lane for both her singular talents and her dedication to parenting. “Christine exuded creativity throughout her life, using her formal graphic design training as a jumping-off point for seemingly endless creative pursuits across areas such as photography, quilting, knitting, and more. She brought even greater passion to her role as a mother to Spencer and his brother Milo,” the family said. Their coaches, Evgenia and Vadim, won the pairs title at the 1994 world championships in Chiba, Japan. The Russia-born pair also competed twice in the Olympics. Young athletes and coaches Skating organisations in Philadelphia and the Washington area have also reported that some of their young athletes were on board the plane. Several athletes on the flight had attended a development camp held after the US Figure Skating Championships ended on Sunday in Wichita, Kansas. Wichita skating centre manager Sean O’Reilly said the championships brought a “groundswell of positivity,” drawing enthusiastic parents and young athletes from across the US. He was “gutted” to learn some of those skaters had been killed. In Virginia’s Loudoun County, a coach at a skating club was also identified as among the passengers, Virginia Representative Suhas Subramanyam confirmed. The club, Ashburn Ice House, said that its “figure skating community has been directly affected” but did not give further details. Students and parents Cedarville University in Ohio announced that one of the passengers was Grace Maxwell who was studying mechanical engineering. According to The Wichita Eagle, Dean Maxwell, Grace's father, revealed she was en route back to campus from Wichita, Kansas, after attending her grandfather's funeral. Grace Maxwell had been working on project to create a hand-stabilising device to help a boy in the area feed himself instead of rely on others, the university said in a statement. 'Grace was a quiet person with a keen interest in helping others through engineering,' remarked Tim Norman, who acted as her secondary advisor. Three other students from schools in Fairfax County, Virginia, and six parents from the district were also on board the plane, superintendent Michelle Reid said in a letter to families. She did not identify them, but said the students were from different schools and that two of the parents were current or former district staffers. Chinese citizens and a police officer from the Philippines Philippine Police Colonel Pergentino Malabed Jnr, who headed the supply management division of the national police, was among the dead. He had travelled to the US to inspect equipment the Philippines was planning to purchase for its 232,000-member force, according to the Philippine police. “His untimely passing is a profound loss to the Philippine National Police, where he served with honour, with integrity and dedication throughout his career,” police spokesperson Colonel Randulf Tuano said in a statement. The Chinese Embassy in the US said two Chinese nationals were also among the victims but did not offer further details. The country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs offered its condolences for the crash victims and requested the US to “promptly report any progress with the search and rescue, and find out the cause of the accident as soon as possible”
PLANE CRASH WASHINGTON DC AVIATION DISASTER VICTIMS FIGURE SKATERS US RUSSIA RECOVERY EFFORTS
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