A young woman who sent her husband a haunting final text shortly before dying in the Washington DC plane crash has been identified.
Asra Hussain messaged husband Hamaad Raza, 25, to say ‘We are landing in 20 minutes’ as American Eagle Flight 5342 approached Reagan National Airport jut before 8pm ET Wednesday night.
Tragically it was the last text Asra, 26, would ever send.
Her shaken husband of two years Hamza Raza, 25, was filmed explaining how he’d texted a few replies but that they’d never been received.
Asra was one of 60 passengers killed when the Bombardier CRJ700 jet – flown by American Airlines regional subsidiary American Eagle – was struck by a Black Hawk helicopter on an Army training sortie.
Four crew members on the plane also died, alongside three service personnel on the chopper.
‘She texted me that they were landing in 20 minutes. The rest of my texts didn’t get delivered and that’s when I realized that something might be up,’ a distraught Hamaad said at the airport.
‘I’m just praying that somebody’s pulling her out of the river right now, as we speak. That’s all I can pray for, I’m just praying to God,’ he told WUSA9.
Raza’s father, Dr Hashim Raza, identified him on social media, writing: ‘This my 25 yo old son who lost his beautiful wife. We are going to DC to be with him. Hug your family. We are devastated. Our Faith in God is unshakable.’
Dr Raza is a prominent doctor at Missouri Baptist Medical Center in St Louis.
Hamaad, an accountant at Ernst and Young, and Asra both went to Indiana University, according to their social media accounts.
He said his wife had gone to Wichita for work but that she’d never felt comfortable flying.
Hamaad Raza, 25, (left) was one of the terrified relatives who were awaiting at the DC airport for passengers of the doomed AA Flight. His wife of just two years Asra Hussain, 26, (right) was one of the 66 people killed. They are pictured in their wedding day in 2022
Asra had texted him letting him know they were scheduled to land in 20 minutes before the plane crash
Hamaad said his wife had gone to Wichita for work but that she’d never felt comfortable flying
Asra was a University of Indiana Bloomington graduate and married her husband two years ago
Hamaad and a family member were pacing anxiously through Terminal 2 at Reagan Airport Wednesday night, waiting for any news.
The WUSA reporter has described his conversation with Raza as ‘one of the most heartbreaking interviews of my professional career.’
The collision happened at around 9 p.m. when a regional jet at the end of a flight from Wichita, Kansas, collided with a military helicopter on a training exercise, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
A few minutes before the jet was to land, air traffic controllers asked American Airlines Flight 5342 if it could do so on a shorter runway, and the pilots agreed. Controllers cleared the jet to land and flight tracking sites showed the plane adjust its approach to the new runway.
Less than 30 seconds before the crash, an air traffic controller asked a helicopter if it had the arriving plane in sight. The controller made another radio call to the helicopter moments later, saying ‘PAT 25 pass behind the CRJ’ — apparently telling the copter to wait for the Bombardier CRJ-701 twin-engine jet to pass. There was no reply. Seconds after that, the aircraft collided.
The plane’s radio transponder stopped transmitting about 2,400 feet short of the runway, roughly over the middle of the Potomac.
Raza revealed the plane was so close to landing that his wife got reception and was able to text him immediately before the crash
Pictured: Russian figure skaters Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov , who were reportedly on the plane, with their son Maxim, 23, a prominent US figure skater
The passengers included figure skaters returning from the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita and two of their Russian coaches, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.
Other Russian nationals in addition to Shishkova and Naumov were also on the plane, according to the Kremlin. Coaches, skaters and others had been at the championships, which concluded Sunday, and a development camp.
Shishkova and Naumov were married and won a 1994 world championship in pairs figure skating.
The body of the plane was found upside-down in three sections in waist-deep water, officials said. The helicopter’s wreckage was also found.
Authorities conducted a massive search-and-rescue operation that turned into a recovery mission.
Roughly 300 first responders were at the scene early Thursday. Inflatable boats were combing the river and first responders set up light towers along the shore to illuminate the area. Helicopters from law enforcement agencies throughout the region were also being used in the methodical search for bodies.
If everyone on board the plane did die, it would be the deadliest U.S. air crash in nearly 24 years. At least 28 bodies had been pulled from the river’s icy waters as of mid-morning.
New Secretary of transportation Sean Duffy said said the crash happened in a clear night.
Rescue boats search the waters of the Potomac River for survivors after the deadly plane crash
Both aircrafts were in a standard flight pattering when the tragedy occurred, he added.
‘Safety is our expectation. Everyone who flies in American skies expects safety… that didn’t happen last night,’ secretary Duffy said.
‘I know president Trump and his administration, we will not rest until we have answers.’
Duffy assured reporters the US still has ‘the safest airspace in the world.’
He said Duffy said the crash was preventable and alluded to early indicators about what happened, but did not elaborate as the crash is being investigated.
American Airlines CEO Robert Isom also spoke at the press conference and said ‘at this point we don’t know why the military aircraft came into the path’ of the passenger plane.
The mayor of Wichita, Lily Wu, was emotional as she spoke to reporters Thursday morning.
She said they will share the victims’ identities after their families were informed.
American Airlines has set up centers in Washington and in Wichita, Kansas, for people seeking information about family members.
There’s also a hotline for people looking for family and friends: 1-800 679 8215.
