At least 30 bodies have been recovered from Washington DC’s Potomac River, after an American Airlines flight collided in mid-air with a Black Hawk helicopter
The jet was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members from Wichita, Kansas when it crashed near Ronald Reagan National Airport. Three soldiers were in the helicopter
Rescuers are working in “extremely rough” conditions, emergency services say – with the water reported to be icy
The US Figure Skating association confirms “several members of the skating community” were on board the plane
US President Donald Trump says he has been briefed on the “terrible accident” and questions why the helicopter didn’t “go up or down”
Victims include US and Russian skaters
US and Russian figure skaters were among the passengers on board the flight.
“Several” athletes, coaches and family members involved with US Figure Skating were on the flight, the sport’s US governing body said in a statement.
Russian citizens were also on board, the Kremlin confirmed – after local media reported that ice skating coaches and former world champions Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were on the plane.
Inna Volyanskaya, a former skater for the Soviet Union, was also on board the flight, according to Russian state news agency Tass.
We don’t know the names of any US figure skaters who were on board.
As many as 15 people on the flight may have been involved in figure skating, an unnamed source told the Reuters news agency. BBC