Russian ice skating coaches and former world champions Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were on board the American Airlines plane that crashed into the Potomac River in Washington on Wednesday night,

Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who won the pairs title at the 1994 world championships and competed at the Winter Olympics twice, were killed.

Two former world champion skaters have been confirmed as being on the American Airlines jet which crashed with a military helicopter over Washington DC on Wednesday.

Officials are yet to confirm the number of casualties from the accident, but reports say first responders have recovered several bodies from the Potomac River.

Russia has confirmed some of its citizens were involved - named by local media as former stars Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov US and Russian figure skaters were reportedly among the passengers on board an aeroplane that hit a helicopter above Washington DC on Wednesday evening.

By Dmitry Antonov and Andrew Osborn MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian-born ice skating coaches and former world champions Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were on board the American Airlines plane that crashed into the Potomac River in Washington on Wednesday night,

Members of the U.S. figure skating community were traveling on the commercial jet that collided with a military helicopter outside Washington. They were returning from a skate camp in Kansas.

The Russian news agency Tass reported that Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, a married couple who were the 1994 world champions in pairs figure skating and coached in the U.S., were aboard the plane.