Former world champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were aboard the flight from Wichita, which hosted last week’s U.S.championships.

PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) -Russian-born ice skating coaches and former world champions Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were aboard the American Airlines plane that crashed into the Potomac River in Washington on Wednesday night,

Top figure skaters from the United States and Russia were on board the plane that crashed in Washington, D.C., after colliding with a military helicopter.

The figure skating community has reacted with sorrow over the news that several members of U.S. figure skating were on board the passenger plane that crashed Wednesday night. The American Airlines passenger jet collided with an Army helicopter as it approached the runway at Reagan National Airport.

Russian figure skating pair Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were among those on board when an American Airlines flight collided with a U.S. Army helicopter, the Kremlin said.

A regional jet carrying 64 people collided in midair with a Black Hawk helicopter as the plane was approaching a runway at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday night.

All are feared dead in a crash involving a Black Hawk helicopter built by Connecticut's Sikorsky and an American Airlines plane in Washington, D.C.

Several figure skaters, their coaches and family members had been on a flight to Washington after the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas.

The two Russian figure skating coaches killed in the American Airlines plane crash in D.C. were two-time Olympians and former world champions in the pairs event who went on to coach in New England.

A devastating mid-air collision over Washington, D.C., has claimed the lives of multiple passengers, including several figure skaters.

U.S. Figure Skating said several skaters, coaches and their family members were on the American Airlines flight that crashed near Washington.