The American ice skater Anton Spiridonov refuted the claims that suggested that he was aboard the commercial plane that crashed in the air with an army helicopter on Wednesday night near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
“The Russian media have included me in a list of alleged people on Wichita’s flight to Washington DC,” shared the skater on Instagram.
“I was not on this flight, thanks for everyone’s concern for my security. My heart is with all the families affected by this tragedy.”
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Anton Spiridonov leans after skating in the free dance competition of the championship during the United States artistic skating championships in the SAP Center in San José, California, on January 28, 2023. (Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports)
Spiridonov won the silver medal at the University Games of the University in 2023. He also finished sixth in the United States Championship that same year. Spiridonov also paid tribute to the ancient “skating companion” of his father, Inna Volyanskaya.
“Pades skating party,” he wrote in a publication in his Instagram history. “Rest in peace, Inna.”
Live updates: American Airlines Avine, Army helicopter clash out of the Reagan National Airport near Washington DC
Flight 5342 transported 60 passengers and four crew members, according to an American Airlines statement. The flight took off from an airport in Wichita, Kansas.
The authorities confirmed that there were three members of the US service aboard the Black Hawk army helicopter when the plane left the Davison Army airfield in Fort Belvoir in Virginia. The airfield is located about 15 miles southwest of Reagan Washington National.
The emergency units respond to the place of the accident of an American Airlines plane and a Black Hawk helicopter on the Potomac River in Arlington, Virginia, on Thursday, January 30, 2025. (Leigh Green for Pak Gazette Digital)
The passenger plane and the military helicopter crashed into the Potomac River when the commercial plane approached one of the airport tracks. At a press conference on Thursday morning, officials confirmed that 27 bodies of the plane and one from the Black Hawk helicopter had been taken out of the cold waters.
The American figurative skating issued a statement confirming that “several members of our skating community” were aboard the flight. The organization said they would return home to a development camp after the artistic skating championships of the United States in Wichita, Kansas, which ended on Sunday.
