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Minnesota figure skating coach participated in camp with several D.C. plane crash victims

Minnesota coach attended camp in Wichita with D.C. plane crash victims
Minnesota coach attended camp in Wichita with D.C. plane crash victims 03:21

MINNEAPOLIS — Just hours after stepping off the ice following the end of the National Development Camp held in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas, more than a dozen members of the figure skating community lost their lives.

The victims —including rising stars, coaches and parents — were on their way back home before tragedy struck.

The passenger jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided with a Black Hawk helicopter with three soldiers aboard. At least 40 bodies had been recovered as of Thursday evening, a law enforcement source told CBS News.

American Airlines Plane And Black Hawk Helicopter Crash Near Reagan National Airport
Emergency response units on Jan. 30, 2025, search the crash site of an American Airlines plane on the Potomac River after a mid-air collision while on approach to Reagan National Airport on Jan. 29 in Arlington, Virginia.  Andrew Harnik / Getty Images

Kate Shurts spent several days with many of the skaters on that flight.

"I had just sat in a classroom with the coaches on Tuesday in a classroom," Shurts said.

She's a professional figure skating coach who attended the camp with an athlete. Thursday afternoon, she held back tears recounting all the fun everyone had that week.

"We all know each other for years and years and it really is a reunion every time," Shurts said.

The tight-knit figure skating community is shattered by the pain being felt internationally. A moment of silence was held at the European Figure Skating competition.

"They are really young people who had lot of talent, promise, energy and people that love them who were looking forward to what they (skaters) were going to do," Shurts said.

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