Several victims of plane crash connected to University of Delaware, President announces

DELAWARE – The University of Delaware President Dennis Assanis says several members of the figure skating community connected to the university were involved in Wednesday night’s plane crash in Washington, D.C.

Assanis released the following statement Thursday afternoon:

“At this time, we are aware that Sasha Kirsanov, a former UD Figure Skating Club coach, was on the airplane. We believe two young skaters who were members of the UD Figure Skating Club also were on board. It is unknown at this time whether these young skaters — who are not UD students — were accompanied by their parents or other chaperones. Kirsanov and the skaters trained at the University’s High Performance Training Center, which uses UD ice rink facilities and has been the training home for many years of multiple world-class skating champions and competitors. The figure skating community is tight-knit, and many of our students and coaches have trained and competed alongside those who were lost.”

He added that support resources are available for those in need, which can be found here.