Dancing on Ice's Torvill and Dean pay emotional tribute to victims of Washington DC plane crash

Dancing connected Ice’s Torvill and Dean person paid tribute to the 67 people, including fig skaters, who died aft an service chopper crashed into a level successful Washington DC connected Wednesday.

Among the dormant were Russian fig skaters Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who won the pairs figure skating rubric astatine the 1994 satellite championships successful Chiba, Japan.

US fig skating has besides confirmed that respective skaters, coaches and their household members were connected committee the flight. They had been returning location from the US Figure Skating Championships successful Wichita.

Paying tribute successful a station connected X, Torvill and Deane wrote: “We are profoundly saddened by the nonaccomplishment of those connected formation 5342 and widen our heartfelt condolences to their families and friends. May they remainder successful peace.”

Two-time US Olympian Tonya Harding wrote connected X: “The events that took spot past nighttime successful Washington, DC are perfectly devastating,

“I'm being told that respective nonrecreational fig skaters were aboard the formation arsenic well. Sending my emotion and prayers to each the victims and their families.”

Senator Maria Cantwell said that the dormant besides included citizens from Russia, the Philippines and Germany, and Chinese authorities media Xinhua reported 2 Chinese citizens had been killed successful the crash.

Authorities person not pinpointed a crushed for the collision.

Air postulation power recordings look to seizure the last attempted communications with the helicopter, telephone motion PAT25, earlier it collided with the jet.

"PAT25, bash you person a CRJ successful sight? PAT25, walk down the CRJ," an aerial postulation controller says astatine 8:47 p.m. ET (0147 GMT) connected Wednesday, according to a signaling connected liveatc.net.

Seconds later, different craft calls successful to aerial postulation control, saying, "Tower, did you spot that?" - seemingly referring to the crash. An aerial postulation controller past redirects planes heading to runway 33 to spell around.

"I conscionable saw a fireball and past it was conscionable gone. I haven't seen thing since they deed the river," an aerial postulation controller says.

Webcam video of the clang showed the collision and an detonation lighting up the nighttime sky.

It was the deadliest US aerial catastrophe since November 2001, erstwhile an American Airlines pitchy crashed aft departing from John F. Kennedy International Airport successful New York, sidesplitting each 260 radical onboard and 5 radical connected the ground.