A proud mother aboard the doomed American Airways flight snapped a photograph of her two beaming ice skater daughters, each Olympic hopefuls, simply earlier than it took off from Kansas on Wednesday.
Donna Livingston captured Everly, 14, and Alydia, 11, in addition to herself and her husband, Peter, simply earlier than takeoff and despatched the eerie photographs to a different US Determine Skating crew mother.
Everly’s coach, Inna Volyanskaya, will be seen within the row behind them.
The household of 4 and coach had been amongst these killed when the aircraft collided with a army helicopter and plunged into the Potomac River close to Ronald Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport in Washington, DC, Wednesday night time.
“They had been my little infants,” a tearful Jin Ah Longerbeam, who obtained the photograph of the sisters from Donna, advised ABC Information Friday.
Longerbeam stated she knew the household because the ladies had been “little rugrats” and that they referred to as her son, Wolfe Jin, a brother.
Longerbeam remembered the ladies’ dad and mom as “actually vivacious individuals.”
“They supported their ladies’ desires,” she stated. “We did every thing we are able to to attempt to make our children desires come true, they usually did it each single second and each single day.”
The household of 4 additionally not often traveled collectively, she famous, however occurred to on the fateful day as they flew house to Virginia from an ice skating growth camp in Wichita.
“Everly and Alydia had been two of the brightest individuals at our rink,” Wolfe stated of his teammates. “The neighborhood regarded as much as them.”
He was in Virginia when he heard information of the crash and drove along with his mother to the airport, nonetheless hopeful that there have been survivors. He introduced jackets for the ladies as a result of he knew they’d be chilly in the event that they’d plunged into the Potomac’s frigid waters.
“He stored saying, ‘They’re gonna be chilly … [we have to make] certain they’re heat,’” his emotional mom stated.
The women had been a part of the Washington Determine Skating Membership and recognized within the determine skating neighborhood because the “Ice Skating Sisters.”
“My targets are to truly be part of Group USA and journey around the globe,” Everly advised FOX5 DC final 12 months.
“It’s unhappy to see them must exit like this as a result of I do know that their futures had been so promising,” Wolfe stated.
Fourteen determine skaters had been among the many 67 killed aboard the horrific crash. Three troopers on the helicopter had been additionally killed.
