DC crash: Former Olympics star's anguish as her skating club loses six members in tragedy

Nancy Kerrigan, who was a palmy fig skater successful the 1990s, shared her heartbreak astatine discovering six members of the Skating Club of Boston - including Spencer Lane - died successful the DC level crash

A erstwhile fig skating nonrecreational broke down successful tears arsenic she expressed her anguish to larn six members of her sports nine died successful the Washington DC crash.

Nancy Kerrigan, 55, watched TV passim the nighttime aft learning Jinna Han, Jin Han, Spencer Lane, Christine Lane, Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were killed successful the tragedy. An American Airlines pitchy collided with a Black Hawk helicopter - connected a grooming workout - arsenic the commercialized level made its last attack to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport connected Wednesday night.

All of the 64 radical connected the American Airlines plane, including the six fig skaters, are thought to person died. They were members of the Skating Club of Boston successful Norwood, Massachusetts, and had conscionable represented the centre astatine a contention successful Wichita, Kansas.

Speaking extracurricular the Skating Club of Boston, US Olympic fig skating fable Ms Kerrigan said: "We’ve been done tragedies earlier arsenic Americans, arsenic people, and we’re strong. I conjecture it’s however we respond to it and my effect is to beryllium with radical I attraction about. We conscionable wanted to beryllium present and beryllium portion of our community."

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Fighting backmost the tears, Ms Kerrigan, who won metallic astatine the 1994 Winter Olympics, continued: "I needed support, truthful that’s wherefore I’m here. It's a shock. I was watching each nighttime (on television) and erstwhile you find retired you cognize immoderate of the radical connected the level it is an adjacent bigger blow. We conscionable privation them well, the families, the courageousness and the spot to marque the adjacent steps."

The probe into the clang continues but sources said the some craft were unaware of the other's presence. The Black Hawk chopper chopped done the airspace from the other absorption of the American Airlines pitchy nether screen of darkness.

But they collided conscionable 400ft supra ground, erupting successful a convulsive detonation earlier plunging into the freezing Potomac River below. The hunt and rescue cognition successful the stream continues today.

Doug Zeghibe, the caput of the Skating Club of Boston, said the centre is "completely astatine a nonaccomplishment for words" aft learning of the deaths of the six athletes. His connection read: "Our athletics and this Club person suffered a horrible nonaccomplishment with this tragedy. Skating is simply a tight-knit assemblage wherever parents and kids travel unneurotic six oregon 7 days a week to bid and enactment together. Everyone is similar family.

"Of the skaters, coaches and parents connected the plane, we judge six were from The Skating Club of Boston. We are devastated and wholly astatine a nonaccomplishment for words.

"These athletes, coaches and parents were returning from US Figure Skating's National Development Camp, pursuing past week's US Championships successful Wichita.

"This campy is for young competitory skaters of time with the astir committedness to beryllium a champion of tomorrow. The Club sent 18 athletes to vie astatine the US Championships. It sent 12 athletes to the nationalist improvement camp."