'Landing in 20 minutes': Indian woman's last text to husband before US air crash, watch video
A midair collision between an Army helicopter and a jetliner killed all 67 people aboard the two aircraft in the US.
At least 28 bodies were pulled from the icy waters of the Potomac River after the helicopter apparently flew into the path of the American Airlines regional jet late Wednesday while it was landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport, just across the river from Washington, officials said.
The plane carried 60 passengers and four crew members, and three soldiers were aboard the helicopter.
Among them was Asra Hussain Raza, the daughter of Indian immigrants.
Watch: Hamaad Raza who’s wife was on American Airlines Flight 5342 and scheduled to land had this to say
“I'm just praying that someone is pulling her out of the Potomac river right now.”
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
— Based DK (@Back_2TheMiddle) January 30, 2025
Raza, 26, was one of several victims killed, her father-in-law, Dr Hashim Raza, told CNN.
A daughter of Indian immigrants, Raza graduated with honours in 2020 from Indiana University and married her college sweetheart in August 2023, Hashim said.
Raza was a Washington, DC-based consultant who travelled to Wichita twice a month to work on a turnaround project for a hospital there, her father-in-law said.
She would often call him at the end of his late emergency room shifts to make sure he stayed awake on the drive home, he told CNN.
"She went out of her way for everybody,” her father-in-law said.
The husband of a victim of the Potomac crash said his wife texted him that she was about to land, but by the time he got to the airport to pick her up, his life had changed forever.
“She said, ‘We're landing in 20 minutes,'” Hamaad Raza said. That was the last thing he heard from his wife.
“I was waiting and I started seeing a bunch of EMS vehicles speeding past me, like way too many than normal, and two, my texts weren't going through,” Hamaad was quoted as saying by NBCwashington.
“It's just, feels crazy that it happened to us, to be honest,” he said.
“I mean, it's like you see these things happen in the news, you see them happen in other countries. And then, I show up to the airport, and my wife's not responding, and I look on Twitter and I see that it's her flight.”
He said he's been surrounded by loved ones who are all devastated by the tragic and unexpected loss.
with PTI inputs