Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton held again tears on Friday as he remembered the victims from the determine skating neighborhood who died after an American Airways flight touring from growth camp in Kansas to Washington, D.C., collided with an Military helicopter in midair late Wednesday night time.
The four-time males’s singles world champion spoke fondly of the victims throughout an look on TODAY however known as the fact of this week’s tragedy “overwhelming.”
“For this to happen just days after those championships were over is just devastating, shocking – it just doesn’t make any sense. . . .We’re no stranger to tragedy but this was just beyond devastation.”
Officers have mentioned that 14 skaters, coaches, and members of the family have been aboard American Airways Flight 5342 when it collided with a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter close to Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport, close to D.C., at round 9 p.m. native time.
Most of the victims have been recognized, together with Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, the famend ice skating coaches who gained a world championship title collectively in 1994.
Hamilton grew to become emotional when he spoke of the couple, who settled in America to change into coaches following their profitable profession, which culminated in two Olympic appearances.
Observe the NYP’s protection of the lethal DC airplane collision
He noticed them simply days earlier than the crash whereas attending the U.S. Determine Skating Championships in Kansas.
“I actually sat with them for a nice visit in Wichita,” Hamilton recalled Friday.”
“To think that they’re gone is, um, I can’t wrap my head around the last 36 hours. It’s just been devastating, and the loss is just beyond description. My heart is shattered.”
Shishkova and Naumov married in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in 1995, they usually moved to Connecticut.
They’d a son, Maxim, who competed in males’s singles within the U.S. He was in Kansas however didn’t journey again together with his mother and father.
The Russian pair have been coaches for the Skating Membership of Boston.
Sixty passengers and 4 crew members on the American Airways airplane and three troopers aboard a coaching flight on the helicopter are presumed useless.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
