Figure skaters, their coaches and family members were passengers on an American Airlines jet that collided with an Army helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport and crashed into the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.

U.S. Figure Skating said the skaters were returning from a developmental camp that followed the U.S. Figure Skating Championships over the weekend in Wichita, Kansas.

"U.S. Figure Skating can confirm that several members of our skating community were sadly aboard American Airlines Flight 5342, which collided with a helicopter yesterday evening in Washington, D.C.," U.S. Figure Skating said in a statement. "We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims' families closely in our hearts."

U.S. Figure Skating did not identify any of the members of its team that were aboard the flight.

The flight carried 60 passengers and four crew members, while an Army official said three soldiers were onboard the helicopter. The airplane collided with the helicopter while attempting to land, prompting a large search-and-rescue operation in the Potomac River.

Washington fire chief John Donnelly said Thursday morning that it is not believed that there are any survivors and that efforts have shifted to a recovery operation. Donnelly said 27 bodies had been recovered from the airplane and one from the helicopter.

Two coaches who were on the flight were identified by the Kremlin as Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who won the pairs title at the 1994 world championships and competed twice in the Olympics. The Skating Club of Boston lists them as coaches, and their son, Maxim Naumov, is a competitive figure skater for the U.S.

"There were other of our fellow citizens there. Bad news from Washington today," Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday morning.

Russia's figure skating federation expressed its condolences to those who had lost loved ones in the crash but said it was unable to comment further.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the midair crash occurred before 9 p.m. ET when a regional jet that had departed from Wichita collided with a military helicopter on a training flight while on approach to an airport runway.

There was no immediate word on the cause of the collision, but all takeoffs and landings at the airport were halted as dive teams scoured the site and helicopters from law enforcement agencies across the region flew over the scene in methodical search for bodies. Flights were expected to resume at Reagan at 11 a.m. Thursday.

Images from the river showed boats around the partly submerged wing and what appeared to be the mangled wreckage of the plane's fuselage.

President Donald Trump said he had been "fully briefed on this terrible accident" and, referring to the passengers, added, "may God bless their souls."

The International Skating Union said it was "deeply shocked by the tragic accident."

"We are heartbroken to learn that figure skaters, along with their families, friends, and coaches, are understood to be among those on board," the global governing body said in a statement. "Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this tragedy. Figure skating is more than a sport -- it's a close-knit family -- and we stand together. We remain in close contact with U.S. Figure Skating and offer our full support during this incredibly difficult time."

The crash occurred in some of the most tightly controlled and monitored airspace in the world, just over 3 miles south of the White House and the Capitol.

Investigators will try to piece together the aircrafts' final moments before their collision, including contact with air traffic controllers and the loss of altitude by the passenger jet.

Less than 30 seconds before the crash, an air traffic controller asked the helicopter if it had the arriving plane in sight. The controller made another radio call to the helicopter moments later: "PAT 25 pass behind the CRJ." Seconds after that, the two aircraft collided.

Some 300 first responders were on scene. Inflatable rescue boats were launched into the Potomac River from a point along the George Washington Parkway, just north of the airport, and first responders set up light towers from the shore to illuminate the area near the collision site. At least a half-dozen boats were scanning the water using searchlights.

The last fatal crash involving a U.S. commercial airline occurred in 2009 near Buffalo, New York. Everyone aboard the Bombardier DHC-8 propeller plane was killed, including 45 passengers, two pilots and two flight attendants. Another person on the ground also died, bringing the total death toll to 50.

In 1961, the 18-member U.S. figure skating team died in a plane crash en route to the world championships in Prague.

Wednesday's collision also recalled the crash of an Air Florida flight that plummeted into the Potomac on Jan. 13, 1982, that killed 78 people.

Reuters contributed to this report.