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A Long Island figure skater revealed the devastating moment she learned five people she knew including her “baby skating sister” were aboard the doomed American Airlines flight Wednesday night.
Audrey Shin, a Smithtown native, woke up Thursday morning to the heartbreaking news of the mid-air collision between Flight 5342 and an Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River in Washington, DC.
The 20-year-old competed with her fellow skaters at the National Development Camp during the US Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kan. last week but flew home a few days earlier than some of the other athletes.
Shin says she knew at least five peers were booked for the return flight to Washington DC, and immediately began making phone calls, News 12 Long Island reported.
Some of the calls went unanswered as Shin started to fear the worst.
Her fears became reality when the Skating Club of Boston released the names of its members who were onboard the flight.
“I have no words. It’s been an extremely difficult morning. Praying for everyone that was involved in this crash,” Shin wrote on her Instagram Story underneath the post from the skating club.
The Boston-area passengers included Jinna Han and her mother Jin, Spencer Lane and his mother Christine, and a husband and wife coaching duo and 1994 World Champion pair Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova.
Shin said seeing 13-year-old Jinna’s name on the list of victims left her “heartbroken.”
“Jinna, my little baby skating sister… I don’t believe it. So heartbroken right now,” she wrote in a separate post.
“She was on the flight with her mom coming back from the skating camp,” Shin told the outlet. “I just feel like it’s a dream right now, like a really bad nightmare.”
Follow the NYP’s coverage of the deadly DC plane collision
The six Boston Skating Club members were among 14 members of the US Figure Skating community aboard the flight from Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport to Ronald Reagan National Airport.
The Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet was preparing to land on Runway 33 at Reagan National when it collided with the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk 400 feet above the river separating Washington DC and Arlington, Virginia.
Officials believe all 60 passengers and 4 crew members aboard the plane, along with the three soldiers in the helicopter were killed when the plane crashed into the Potomac River.
US Figure Skating confirmed the skaters, coaches and parents were returning from the National Development Camp that was held in conjunction with the US Figure Skating Championships held at the INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita from Jan. 20 to Jan. 26.
“We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts,” the governing body said.
