Bored Panda works better on our iPhone app
Continue in app Continue in browser

Share this article:

The Bored Panda iOS app is live! Fight boredom with iPhones and iPads here.

“Gonna Miss My Friends”: Child Ice Skating Star’s Final Posts Before Plane Crash Disaster
168

“Gonna Miss My Friends”: Child Ice Skating Star’s Final Posts Before Plane Crash Disaster

“Gonna Miss My Friends”: Child Ice Skating Star’s Final Posts Before Plane Crash Disaster“They Were Just Babies”: Adorable Child Ice Skating Duo Among Youngest Victims Of D.C. Crash“So So Sad”: People “Heartbroken” After Child Ice Skating Duo Perish In American Airlines CrashNation Mourns Promising Child Ice Skating Duo Lost In Tragic Flight 5342: “So Young And Talented”“I Had A Lot Of Fun”: Child Ice Skating Star Shared Touching Post Before Horrific Plane CrashCoach’s Wife Breaks Down After Learning He And Young Ice Skating Duo Were Plane Crash Victims“All Of Them Are Gone”: Ice Skating Child Stars Among Youngest Victims Of American Airlines Crash“So Young And Talented”: Child Ice Skating Partners Among Youngest Victims Of Tragic Plane CrashLittle Girl Shared Pics Having “So Much Fun” With Ice Skating Partner Before Horrific Plane CrashCoach’s Wife Overcome With Grief After Husband, Young Ice Skating Duo Among Plane Crash Victims
ADVERTISEMENT

The lives of two talented children were tragically cut short by Wednesday’s devastating plane crash.

Angela Yang and Sean Kaya dynamic ice skating duohad “so much fun” at the National Development Camp in Wichita, Kansas, where promising skaters undergo training.

But after the training camp, the children never returned home.

Highlights
  • Ice skating duo Angela Yang and Sean Kay, were among the youngest victims in the plane crash.
  • The rising stars were traveling back from a training camp in Kansas when the mid-air collision took place.
  • “Had so so much fun at camp!!! I’m really gonna miss my friends,” Angela Yang wrote in her last Instagram post.
  • All passengers aboard the American Airlines flight 5342, which collided with the military chopper, are presumed dead.
RELATED:

    Dynamic ice skating duo Angela Yang and Sean Kay were on the doomed American Airlines flight that crashed on Wednesday

    Image credits: angelayangskates

    Yang and Kay were among the youngest victims on the doomed American Airlines passenger plane, which collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk Helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on January 29.

    Social media posts claimed that they were only 11 years old.

    Hours before her death, Yang shared moments from her time at the camp and said she was going to miss her friends and coaches.

    Image credits: angelayangskates

    “Had so so much fun at camp!!! I’m really gonna miss my friends and all the great coaches! I can’t wait for next year!” read the very last post that went up on the young girl’s Instagram page.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    “And a thanks to @usfigureskating for organizing this camp!” she added.

    Another post from her recent camp days said: “It was a lot of fun watching all the skaters at Kansas! I had a lot of fun sitting with my friends watching amazing skaters! I wish I could watch it all over again!”

    “Had so so much fun at camp!!!” the young girl wrote on Instagram not long before the crash

    Image credits: U.S. Figure Skating

    The ice skating duo competed in the 2025 Midwestern Sectional Singles & U.S. Ice Dance in Plano, Texas, in November.

    They bagged the first prize in several categories in the competition.

    While in Wichita this week for the training camp, the children were accompanied by their coach, Alexandr “Sasha” Kirsanov, 46, who was also killed in the deadly plane collision.

    The children traveled to Wichita with their coach, Alexandr “Sasha” Kirsanov, 46, for a training camp

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Image credits: angelayangskates

    The coach’s wife, Natalya Gudin, who said she usually travels with them, cried as she spoke about the trio’s passing.

    “We always use American Airlines when we go to competition,” she told Delaware Online.

    “This time they go without me, and all of them are gone,” she added.

    Image credits: angelayangskates

    She called the young children “amazing” with bright futures ahead of them in ice skating.

    “This young team – Sean Kay and Angela Yang – they were so amazing,” Gudin said. “All the judges were so proud and they had such a big future. And what, all on the same plane?”

    The bereaved wife said it’s a “triple” loss for her.

    Yang fell in love with skating after watching her siblings play ice hockey. After realizing she had a passion for ice dance, her family and coaches realized she had a real talent for the sport.

    After starting as a solo skater, Yang found the perfect skating partner in Kay, and the duo impressed coaches and judges on numerous occasions

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Image credits: U.S. Figure Skating

    She entered the arena as a solo ice dancer, but always had dreams of performing with a partner, according to a Facebook post shared by The Skating Lesson, a page for the sports and skating community with 422k followers.

    Yang’s mother Lily moved with the talented child from Maryland to Delaware. She began homeschooling her so she could hone her skills on the ice rink.

    Lily raised her three children and ensured Angela could pursue her dreams while their father stayed back in China.

    Image credits: angelayangskates

    ADVERTISEMENT

    On the other hand, Kay was described by The Skating Lesson’s post as a “natural” on the ice and one of four siblings, all of whom are skaters.

    His older sister piqued his interest in ice skating, and eventually, the people around him saw that he had a special spark in the rink.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    He “outskated” his sister and peers and went on to win solo dance competitions “nationally at the juvenile and intermediate levels,” the post said.

    The Skating Lesson’s post claimed that both Yang and Kay’s mothers were also onboard the crashed flight. Bored Panda could not confirm their passing.

    “I need my husband back,” said the deceased coach’s wife. “I need his body back”

    Image credits: udfsc

    Both Kay and Yang were members of the University of Delaware Figure Skating Club, coached by Gudin and her now-deceased husband.

    Gudin revealed that she spoke to her husband before the plane took off.

    He said he would call her after the short flight, but instead, Gudin received a phone call from another student’s mother about a plane crash.

    Several members of the ice skating community were on the American Airlines flight that collided with a US Army Black Hawk Helicopter

    After realizing what happened, Gudin rushed to Washington, D.C., where she stayed in a hotel waiting to hear any news about her husband’s body.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    As of Thursday afternoon, Kirsanov’s remains hadn’t been found.

    “I need my husband back,” Gudin told ABC News. “I need his body back.”

    Image credits: U.S. Figure Skating

    All 60 passengers and four crew members on the American Airlines flight 5342 are presumed dead, along with three soldiers who were flying in the helicopter.

    “Several members of our skating community” were aboard the flight, US Figure Skating confirmed following the crash.

    “We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts,” said the official body for figure skating in the country.

    “No words ever can describe their families’ grief and sorrow,” a social media user said

    ADVERTISEMENT
    ADVERTISEMENT
    Share on Facebook
    Binitha Jacob

    Binitha Jacob

    Writer, BoredPanda staff

    Read more »

    Working as a writer for Bored Panda offers an added layer of excitement. By afternoon, I'm fully immersed in the whirlwind of celebrity drama, and by evening, I'm navigating through the bustling universe of likes, shares, and clicks. This role not only allows me to delve into the fascinating world of pop culture but also lets me do what I love: weave words together and tell other people's captivating stories to the world

    Read less »
    Binitha Jacob

    Binitha Jacob

    Writer, BoredPanda staff

    Working as a writer for Bored Panda offers an added layer of excitement. By afternoon, I'm fully immersed in the whirlwind of celebrity drama, and by evening, I'm navigating through the bustling universe of likes, shares, and clicks. This role not only allows me to delve into the fascinating world of pop culture but also lets me do what I love: weave words together and tell other people's captivating stories to the world

    Karina Babenok

    Karina Babenok

    Author, BoredPanda staff

    Read more »

    As a visual editor in the News team, I look for the most interesting pictures and comments to make each post interesting and informative through images, so that you aren't reading only blocks of text. I joined Bored Panda not that long ago, but in this short amount of time I have covered a wide range of topics: from true crime to Taylor Swift memes (my search history is very questionable because of that).In my freetime, I enjoy spending time at the gym, gaming, binging Great British Bake Off and adding yet another tattoo artist that I would love to get a tattoo from to my pinterest board.

    Read less »

    Karina Babenok

    Karina Babenok

    Author, BoredPanda staff

    As a visual editor in the News team, I look for the most interesting pictures and comments to make each post interesting and informative through images, so that you aren't reading only blocks of text. I joined Bored Panda not that long ago, but in this short amount of time I have covered a wide range of topics: from true crime to Taylor Swift memes (my search history is very questionable because of that).In my freetime, I enjoy spending time at the gym, gaming, binging Great British Bake Off and adding yet another tattoo artist that I would love to get a tattoo from to my pinterest board.

    What do you think ?
    Add photo comments
    POST
    SaladSpinner3000
    Community Member
    3 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    How sad that this tragic accident is posted on BP as "entertainment" to get more clicks.

    WindySwede
    Community Member
    3 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    just my thought! BP owners, "How can we profit out of this?"

    cerinamroth
    Community Member
    3 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Of course she would. What kind of grief-porn headline is this? I didn't even read the article, just came to say "Get it together BP".

    ADVERTISEMENT
    KatSaidWhat
    Community Member
    3 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    How incredibly sad for everyone on that plane and all affected by it.

    SaladSpinner3000
    Community Member
    3 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    How sad that this tragic accident is posted on BP as "entertainment" to get more clicks.

    WindySwede
    Community Member
    3 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    just my thought! BP owners, "How can we profit out of this?"

    cerinamroth
    Community Member
    3 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Of course she would. What kind of grief-porn headline is this? I didn't even read the article, just came to say "Get it together BP".

    ADVERTISEMENT
    KatSaidWhat
    Community Member
    3 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    How incredibly sad for everyone on that plane and all affected by it.

    You May Like
    Related on Bored Panda
    Related on Bored Panda
    Trending on Bored Panda
    Also on Bored Panda