Figure crates to be reminded of worlds in Boston

Figures and others killed in the Midair Collision near Washington, DC, will be honored on Wednesday when the World Cup is staged in Boston in March.

International skating president Jae Youl Kim held back tears on Friday publishing during European Championships in Tallinn, Estonia.

Skaters, coaches and family members on their way back from a national skating camp in Wichita, Kansas, were among those who died when a passenger jet approaching Ronald Reagan National Airport hit an army helicopter. They included two teenage skaters, their mothers and two coaches who were part of the Skating Club of Boston.

A total of 14 members of the art skates were passengers in the aircraft, according to the Skating Club of Boston CEO Doug Zeghibe.

Among them were teenage skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Lane of the Boston Club and Youth Figure Skater Olivia Ter, who was 12.

Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who won the parritel at the 1994 World Cup and competed twice in the Olympics. They were listed as coaches at the Boston Club.

“At the moment we will focus on mourning over those who lost their lives and also provide support to those who lost their loved ones. We are taking one step at a time,” said Kim, who was visibly emotional and paused to fight back Tears when he told the Associated Press about the effect of the crash on the skating. “We will discuss with our colleagues in Boston what to do to honor those who left us in this tragic way. One way of honoring them is to make sure we deliver the greatest event to show respect.”

The World Cup will be held on 25-30. March at TD Garden in Boston.

The police boats fought the banks of the Potomac River on Friday morning, moving slowly and scanning the coastline as part of the investigation of the Midair collision, which killed 67 people in the US’s deadliest aviation disaster in nearly a quarter of a century.

More than 40 bodies have been drawn from the river as the huge recovery effort continued, two law enforcement authorities told AP on condition of anonymity. Sources told ABC News that additional equipment was needed to find additional victims and that the recovery is expected to last through the weekend.

Investigators have recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder of the American Airlines aircraft. Authorities were still looking for the helicopter’s black cash recorder, defense secretary Pete Hegeth told Fox News Friday.

Officials are investigating a number of factors in what National Transport Safety Board Presidency Jennifer Hommendy has called an “all-hand-on-Deck event.” Studies of aircraft accidents usually take 12 to 18 months, and investigators told journalists on Thursday that they would not speculate on the cause.

Kim said skaters including European champion Adam Siao Him FA from France had dedicated programs for European championships for the accident.

“We’re all sorry, but this is also just to bring the solidarity into the art skating,” Kim said.

The figure skating was also grieving Dick button, the two-time Olympic Gold Medal and the TV Company, which died Thursday at the age of 95.

“He left a great footprint in our lives and not only in art skating, but in sports in general,” Kim said of Button. “He was much, much bigger than a big skater. He was an innovator, pioneer.”

This is not the first time that the American art skating has been shaken by an air tragedy. In February 1961, the 18-member US Art Skating died in a plane crash on its way to the World Cup in Prague. Also killed were six American coaches and four skating services along with some family members. The World Cups were canceled that year of respect for the American team killed in the crash.