Man reveals chilling last words with wife on doomed American Airlines Flight 5342 as passengers are pulled from river
A man whose wife was on the doomed American Airlines Flight 5342 has revealed his heartbreaking final texts to her before the crash.
Hamaad Raza revealed his 26-year-old wife was on board the tragic flight from Wichita, Kansas to Washington when it collided with a military helicopter just before 9pm on Wednesday night.
Emergency services in the city are searching the Potomac River near the airport following the incident.
‘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,’ Raza told WUSA9.
Raza revealed the plane was so close to landing that his wife got reception and was able to text him immediately before the crash.
‘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,’ he said.
The airplane held four crew members and 60 passengers, and the helicopter carrying three soldiers on a ‘training flight’.
Officials have not said how many people died in the accident but the bodies of 30 people reported to have been recovered so far. Authorities have suggested that there may be no survivors.
Hamaad Raza (pictured) has revealed that his 26-year-old wife was on board the tragic flight from Wichita, Kansas to Washington when it collided with a military helicopter just before 9pm on Wednesday night
Raza revealed the plane was so close to landing that his wife got reception and was able to text him immediately before the crash
A man whose wife was on the doomed American Airlines Flight 5342 showed a reporter his heartbreaking final texts to her before the crash
The plane from Wichita, Kansas to Washington collided with a military helicopter just before 9pm on Wednesday night
Raza said his wife had gone to Wichita for work but that she’d never felt comfortable flying.
He 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’.
Passengers on the flight included ice skaters, family and coaches returning from events in Wichita, including Russian-born former world champions Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.
The skaters on board were returning from a camp following an event in Wichita, governing body US Figure Skating said.
‘We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts,’ it said.
Russian media said Shishkova and Naumov, who were married and working as coaches, were returning from Wichita with a group of young skaters.
Their Team USA figure skater son Maxim 23, was at the Wichita camp although it is unclear if he was also on the fateful flight.
US figure skating team member Spencer Lane, 26, uploaded the photo around 7pm ET Wednesday, which appeared to show the jet taxiing on the runway at Wichita Airport in Kansas before it took off for its final flight.
He captioned it ICT -> DCA – the codes for Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
Russia’s Mash news outlet published a list of 13 skaters, many of them the children of Russian emigres to the US, who it said were believed to have been on the plane.
The Kremlin offered condolences to the families of Russians killed and said there were no plans for contacts for now between President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump.
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
Russian figure skaters Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov are reported to have been on board the American Airlines plane that crashed into a Black Hawk helicopter
Spencer Lane, 26, shared this photo from inside the doomed American Airlines plane as it took off from Wichita Airport in Kansas on Wednesday evening
Spencer Lane is pictured on the podium during a previous tournament. He was on board the American Airlines plane that crashed into the Potomac River in Washington DC, killing at least 30
