The wife of a Delaware skating coach says she “lost everything” after she heard her husband was One of the victims Killed when a plane from the American Airlines collided with an army helicopter in Washington, DC, late Wednesday evening.
Natalya Gunin told WPVI That she and her husband, Alexandr “Sasha” Kirsanov, were both skating coaches in Delaware. She remembered the now heartbreaking decision she and her husband made that Kirsanov would travel to Wichita, Kansas for a development camp.
Rescuers work on boats while the sun rises at the location of the crash after a Black Hawk -helicopter collided with American Eagle Flight 5342, who approached Reagan Washington National Airport, and in the Potomac River, Outside Washington, DC, on January, on January collapsed on January. 30, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
“We are husband and wife,” she told the station. “We decided who’s going, who stays at home,” she said. “We decided that he would go to the development camp.”
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Kirsanov, 46, was one of the 67 people when American Airlines Flight 5342 and a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter bumped into Reagan Washington National Airport at about 9 p.m. local time.
What started as a search and rescue effort turned into a recovery operation after civil servants said they believed that there were no survivors.
Among the victims were several members of the art skating community. Our figure skating A statement released that confirms that the victims returned from a development camp that was held after the American figure skating championships in Wichita, which was closed on Sunday.
“I lost everything. I lost my husband. I lost my students. I lost my friends,” Gudin told the station.
President Dennis Assisis of the University of Delaware released a statement on Thursday that confirmed that Kirsanov, a former figure skating coach at the university, was one of the victims in Wednesday’s crash.
Photos of victims after the collision between an American Airlines -Jet and an American Black Hawk -Helikopter. (Getty Images)
“I am incredibly sad to share the news that different members of the art skating community associated with the University of Delaware belonged to those who lost their lives in a plane collision last night in Washington, DC,” was his statement.
“Kirsanov and the skaters trained in the High Performance Training Center of the University, which UD ICE Rink facilities uses and has been the training house of multiple skating champions of world class and competitors for many years. The art skating community is close and have many of our students and coaches have trained and participated in addition to those who were lost. ”
Assis also confirmed that Kirsanov was fleeing with “two young skaters”. He only identified them as members of the UD art skating club, but Sen. Chris Coons, D-del., They later led them as Sean Kay and Angela Yang.
“I am devastated to hear the news that at least three Delawareans died during the air collision last night. Sasha Kirsanov, Sean Kay and Angela Yang went to Wichita to strive for their passion for figure skates. It is a tragedy that none of it They returned the home of our state, “his mail read on X.
Part of the wreck is seen as life boats in the waters of the Potomac River after an airplane on the approach of Reagan National Airport on January 30, 2025 against the river near Washington, DC had crashed. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty images)
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“Delaware is a state of neighbors, and tonight we keep all our neighbors a little closer. My heart goes out to Sasha’s wife Natalia, the art skating club of the University of Delaware, and any other Delawarean touched by the three of them.”
The daughter of Kirsanov, Nicole, also placed a tribute on social media after the loss of her father.
“I miss your daddy, I would do everything to bring you back and tell you that I loved you again,” she wrote in a message on Instagram.
Kirsanov was an eight -time national coach and a triple international junior world coach with almost a decade experience.
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