Two Korean-American teen skaters among victims of plane collision in US

By Evelyn Nam Posted : January 31, 2025, 14:39 Updated : January 31, 2025, 14:39
Police boats are seen near a wreckage site in the Potomac River from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia on Jan. 30, 2025. AP-Yonhap
SEOUL, January 31 (AJP) - Two Korean-American teen skaters were among the victims of an aircraft crash in the U.S. on Wednesday, according to local news reports.

An American Airlines flight from Kansas, carrying 60 passengers and four crew members, crashed into the Potomac River after colliding midair with an Army Black Hawk helicopter, which had three soldiers aboard while landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Virginia.

The nighttime midair collision took the lives of all those aboard, making it America's deadliest aviation tragedy since 2001.

About a dozen young skaters were aboard, returning from last week's U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita.
 
Spencer Lane (left) and Jinna Han. Courtesy of the Skating Club of Boston
Jinna Han and Spencer Lane, both in their teens, were among the victims, as well as their mothers, who had accompanied them on the trip.

Han was born into a family of Korean descent, while Lane was reportedly adopted from South Korea along with his brother.

"There are no survivors," said U.S. President Donald Trump during a White House press briefing the following day, blaming the previous administrations' diversity initiatives.

"I put safety first. Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first," he said. "The [Federal Aviation Administration's] website states they include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability, and dwarfism."

With a search and rescue operation underway, one person from the helicopter and about 27 bodies have been retrieved so far from the river.

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