Delaware coach and skaters
The wife of skating coach Alexandr Kirsanov confirmed to ABC News her husband was on the plane.
Natalya Gudin said Kirsanov was with two youth ice skaters on board the flight.
“I lost everything. I lost my husband. I lost my students. I lost my friends,” Gudin said.
Gudin, who also coaches students with her husband in Delaware, said she stayed home to be with their other skaters.
“We are husband and wife,” Gudin said. “We decided who’s going, who’s staying home,” she said. “We decided he would go to the development camp.”
Two young skaters, Sean Kay and Angela Yang, who had ties to the University of Delaware Figure Skating Club, were also among those killed, according to U.S. Senator Chris Coons.
“I’m devastated to hear the news that at least three Delawareans died during last night’s air collision. Sasha Kirsanov, Sean Kay, and Angela Yang went to Wichita to pursue their passion for figure skating,” Coons said in a statement.
Last week, the the club posted about Kay and Yang before their trip to Wichita.
“It is a tragedy that none of them returned home to our state. Delaware is a state of neighbors, and tonight we hold all of our neighbors a little closer. My heart goes out to Sasha’s wife Natalia, the University of Delaware Figure Skating Club, and every other Delawarean touched by the three of them,” added Coons.
Gudin last spoke with her husband as he boarded the flight on Wednesday, she said.
“I need my husband back,” Gudin said as she waited at a hotel for further information from authorities. “I need his body back.”
University of Delaware President Dr. Dennis Assanis released a statement on the tragedy saying, “The figure skating community is tight-knit, and many of our students and coaches have trained and competed alongside those who were lost.”
“Our hearts go out to the families and friends of all of the victims of this horrific tragedy,” he added.