The tragic air crash in which a military Black Hawk helicopter and a commercial American Airlines plane collided over the Potomac River, had among the 60 passengers and four crew members, several members of the United States figure skating community who were returning from a camp in Kansas.
According to a report by Reuters, among the passengers were Russians Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, former world champion Russian figure skaters, while there is one of those surprising stories when this type of tragedy happens, and there was a person who saved his life for the most unlikely reason.
This is the American pair skater Jon Maravilla, who told the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti that just when he wanted to check in, he was informed that due to size restrictions, his dog could not be transported on the plane to travel from Kansas to Washington, DC, so he decided to make the trip by car.
According to the figure skating fan page @fs.delight, Maravilla shared what at the time could have been something uncomfortable: “I am not allowed to pass the boarding gate to board the flight… Get me out of Kansas, please,” the skater posted along with several emojis about an impediment that ended up saving his life.
Maravilla also told RIA Novosti that among the passengers were “about 14 figure skaters on the plane, not counting their parents and coaches”, but did not want to give their names, and only added: “What a tragedy”.
US Figure Skating confirms skaters were on board
PEOPLE magazine published a confirmation from US Figure Skating about a statement in which they claim that several members of their community were traveling on the American Airlines plane.
“US Figure Skating can confirm that several members of our skating community were unfortunately on board American Airlines flight 5342, which collided with a helicopter yesterday afternoon in Washington, DC,” the statement read, adding that “these athletes, coaches and family members were returning home from the National Development Camp held in conjunction with the US Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas.”
The figure skating body concludes the statement: “We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the families of the victims in our hearts. We will closely monitor the situation and make more information available as it becomes available.”