Among the victims of the tragic American Airlines crash were two figure-skating sisters, as recovery efforts continue.
The tragic incident happened on January 29 when American Airlines Flight 5342 collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter.
The flight was coming in to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and both aircraft plunged into the Potomac River.
Sadly, the following day, authorities declared that there were no survivors and efforts turned to recover the bodies of the 67 people who lost their lives.
On board were some members of the figure skating community, including 14 and 11-year-old Everly and Alydia Livingston.
The skating website Golden Skate was the first to report the news.
The sisters were members of the Washington Figure Skating Club and frequently shared their routines on social media. On Instagram, they were known as @ice_skating_sisters.
Their last Instagram post, shared five days before the crash, showed them at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas.
The caption read: “If you look closely at Alydia’s badge… We were born ready for this but is @usfigureskating ready for this much Livingston at Nationals?”
In a separate post, Everly’s coach, Inna Volyanskaya, praised the young skater and her partner, Franco Aparicio, for their accomplishments.
“Congratulations on Everly and Franco for making it to the national development camp for their second year! So proud of all their hard work and training they have done to get here. What an amazing way to start off the year!” she wrote.
Volyanskaya, 59, a former Soviet Union pair skater, was also among the passengers.
U.S. Figure Skating confirmed to PEOPLE that several of its members were onboard the aircraft.
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Among the victims were at least six members of The Skating Club of Boston, including two teens, Spencer Lane and Jinna Han, their mothers, Molly Lane and Jin Han, and two coaches, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, former Russian world champions.
Other victims included members of the Washington Figure Skating Club, the University of Delaware Figure Skating Club, and the Skating Club of Northern Virginia.
In a statement, U.S. Figure Skating acknowledged the tragedy: “We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts. We will continue to monitor the situation and will release more information as it becomes available.”
Pairs figure skating world champions Evgenia Shishkova, 52, and Vadim Naumov, 55, who won the 1994 title, were among those onboard, Reuters and The Guardian reported, citing Russian news agencies TASS and RIA.
The couple, who had lived in the U.S. since at least 1998, were known for training young figure skaters.
Our thoughts continue to be with those affected by the tragedy.
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