Skaters on board American Airlines flight were likely youth development squad, analyst says
From CNN's Antoinette Radford and George Ramsay
The figure skaters on board the American Airlines flight that crashed Wednesday evening were returning from the National Development Camp, sports analyst Christine Brennan said Thursday morning.
The camp is largely for youth skaters, she said, many of whom “we would expect to see bubble to the surface, rise up and compete moving forward, even to the 2030 Olympic Games.”
“It is absolutely tragic what I’m hearing. The community is devastated.”
“We don’t yet have numbers, and, of course, we’re not going to give any names out at this point,” Brennan said. “But it appears to look like coaches, young skaters, family members – and it could be quite a large number.”
The athletes had been returning from the US Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas, US Figure Skating said in an earlier statement.
“We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts,” the organization said. “We will continue to monitor the situation and will release more information as it becomes available.”