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After losing both of his parents in the recent mid-air collision in Washington, ice skater Maxim Naumov has been receiving round-the-clock support from his family and friends.
The 23-year-old Naumov is finding solace in the company of his loved ones following the tragic incident, which resulted in the loss of 67 lives due to the collision between an American Airlines plane and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter.
Naumov’s parents, 1994 World Champions Evgenia “Zhenya” Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, were aboard the doomed aircraft.
“I know a couple who is with him right now,” Ekaterina “Katia” Gordeeva, a former teammate and close friend of Naumov’s parents, told People.
Before the incident occurred in Washington, Naumov and his family lived in Simsbury, a town where they were well-connected to the community. Naumov expressed how everyone came together to support him on the day of the plane crash.
The woman currently looking after the young skater is “like a godmother to him,” Gordeeva adds.
“She is with him right now there and her husband,” she added.
Shishkova and Naumov, who were figure-skating coaches at the time of their deaths, competed twice in the Olympics and won the World Championships in pairs in 1994.
The duo, who were married, were in Kansas for a national developmental camp which was in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, where Maxim competed and placed fourth.
The pair were coaches affiliated with the Skating Club of Boston.
According to the Daily Mail, a teammate said their son left Wichita on Monday last week and that the final words Shishkova and Naumov expressed to their son was that they were “proud” of him.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the military helicopter was on a training flight when it collided midair with the passenger jet and crashed into the Potomac River before 9 p.m. ET.
There were 60 passengers and four crew members on board American Eagle Flight 5342 en route from Wichita to Washington, D.C., American Airlines said.
The military helicopter was carrying three people, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said.
There were no survivors.
The American Airlines flight included 14 youth figure skaters — six of which were members of The Skating Club of Boston — who traveled to Kansas for the U.S. Figure Skating’s development camp.
“Our sport and this Club have suffered a horrible loss with this tragedy,” the Boston Skating Club said in a statement following the tragedy.
“Skating is a tight-knit community where parents and kids come together 6 to 7 days a week to train and work together. Everyone is like family. Of the skaters, coaches and parents on the plane, we believe six were from The Skating Club of Boston. We are devastated and completely at a loss for words.”
Other victims from the club have been identified as Spencer Lane, his mom Molly Lane, Jinna Han and her mom Jin Han, Everly and Alydia Livingston, and their parents, Peter and Donna Livingston.