The European figure skating championships carried on Thursday in Tallin, Estonia, even as the skating world mourned athletes who died in an aircraft collision near Washington, D.C.

The European figure skating championships carried on Thursday, even as the skating world mourned athletes who died when an American Airlines jet collided with an Army helicopter near Washington, D.C.

Members of the United States figure skating community were on board an aeroplane that crashed near Washington DC, the country's governing organisation for the sport says.