Teen figure skaters and coaches among victims of air crash in US

FRANCE 24 English

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00:00It is the worst aviation disaster in the United States in a generation.

00:05All 67 people aboard an army helicopter and an American Airlines flight

00:09were killed in a mid-air collision.

00:12Among those who died were two teenage figure skaters from the skating club of Boston.

00:17Gina Han was just 13 years old and Spencer Lane was 16.

00:21He posted a photo just before the crash.

00:24They were with their mothers and seated with club coaches,

00:28two former world champions.

00:32This will have long-reaching impacts for our skating community.

00:37The two coaches, Jenya Shishkova and Vadim Nomov, top coaches,

00:43they were the 1994 world pair champions and they came to us in 2017

00:49and were very much a part of our building the competitive skating program

00:54here at the skating club of Boston.

00:55Fourteen members of the U.S. skating community lost their lives.

00:59Among those expressing their condolences for all the victims of the crash

01:03was Sebastian Coe, a member of the International Olympic Committee.

01:07I know the grievous loss of life across a range,

01:13but I'm also acutely conscious there were Olympians

01:16and the families of Olympians on that desperate flight.

01:21So on behalf of the whole of World Athletics,

01:23I know I am able to say that our thoughts and prayers

01:28are with all those families and friends that have suffered such a grievous loss.

01:34The members of the U.S. skating community who died

01:36had been attending a training camp in Wichita in Kansas

01:39following last week's national championships.

01:42Civic and religious leaders joined residents in Wichita

01:45in a community prayer vigil on Thursday afternoon.

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