'Horrific tragedy': Six members of Skating Club of Boston among air crash victims

Lance Reynolds, Boston Herald on Jan 30, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

Six of the victims on the American Airlines flight that collided with an Army helicopter and crashed into the frigid waters of the Potomac River have been identified as members of the Skating Club of Boston, the epicenter of elite figure skating in New England.

Speaking to reporters at his Norwood facility, club CEO and Executive Director Doug Zeghibe tried to piece together what he described as a “horrific tragedy” that claimed the lives of two teenage skaters and their parents along with a husband and wife who coached together.

The six members – identified as skaters Spencer Lane and Jinna Han, mothers Molly Lane and Jin Han, and coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov – had been on their way back from the National Development Camp in Wichita, Kansas when the collision occurred near Reagan Airport in Washington, D.C. Wednesday night.

Fourteen skaters in total have been identified as victims, Zeghibe said.

“Skating is a very close and tight-knit community,” he said. “These kids and their parents, they’re here at our facility in Norwood, six, sometimes seven, days a week. It’s a close, tight bond. I think for all of us, we have lost family.”

Zeghibe said Shishkova and Naumov’s son Maxim Naumov, who competed at the US Championships in Wichita on Sunday, flew back from Kansas on Monday. Maxim and the fathers of the teenagers killed were all en route to Washington Thursday morning, the CEO added.

Zeghibe said he had yet to speak with the fathers but that he had been in contact with people close to them. He recounted his immediate thought process when the news of the crash started to break Wednesday night.

“The biggest thing was: ‘How can we get accurate information information?’ At one point, we thought we had 12 skaters that were on and their families … I know it sounds crazy to be relieved, ‘Oh my God, it’s only six?’ But in some ways, I am relieved that it was only six but it is a devastating six.”

There were 60 total passengers and four crew members on the American Airlines flight and three soldiers aboard the training flight on the Blackhawk helicopter. It was believed that there were no survivors.

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.

______