Who is Asra Hussain, wife of Hamaad Raza who died in American Airlines Eagle Flight No 5342 and Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk Washington DC helicopter plane crash

Who is Asra Hussain, wife of Hamaad Raza who died in American Airlines Eagle Flight No 5342 and Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk Washington DC helicopter plane crash

Know all details about the identity of Asra Hussain, the wife of Hamaad Raza who died in the Washington DC plane crash

Asra Hussain, a young woman who tragically lost her life in the Washington plane crash, was identified as the person who sent a chilling final message to her husband just moments before the collision. She had texted her husband, Hamaad Raza, saying, “We are landing in 20 minutes” as American Eagle Flight 5342 neared Reagan National Airport on Wednesday night.

Who is Asra Hussain, wife of Hamaad Raza who died in American Airlines Eagle Flight No 5342 and Sikorsky H-60 US Army Black Hawk Washington DC helicopter plane crash

What happened to Asra Hussain?

Hamaad, who had been married to Asra for two years, shared how he received a text from her saying they were landing in 20 minutes. He explained that he sent several replies, but none of his messages were delivered. It was only when his follow-up texts failed to go through that he realized something was wrong. Tragically, Asra was among the 60 passengers who lost their lives when Flight 5342 collided midair with a Black Hawk helicopter.

During Raza’s interview he said: “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.”

“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 then showed the messages Hussain, 26, had sent her husband as well as his texts to her, which were never delivered.

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Raza’s father wrote on social media following the devastating news: “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.”

Raza and Hussan both went to Indiana University and Raza had previously noted his wife had gone to Wichita, Kansas, for work but she was not a fan of flying.

Raza is a doctor at Missouri Baptist Medical Center in St. Louis while Asra Hussain, 26, from Carmel, Ind., graduated from IU Bloomington in 2020 with a B.S. in Healthcare Management and Policy and she went on to earn a master’s degree in healthcare management.

She’s survived by her husband Hamaad Raza from St.Louis, who also attended IU, from 2017-2021, and earned a B.S. in Finance at the Kelley School of Business and Raza said he and Hussain met through the Muslim Student Association when he was a freshman and she was a sophomore.

The two were married two-and-a-half years ago.

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All four crew members aboard the plane and three military personnel on the helicopter also perished in the crash. Hamaad, visibly distraught, told reporters he had been praying for Asra, hoping she might still be alive and pulled from the river. He held onto a faint hope as he awaited any news. Age 25 Hamaad, an accountant at Ernst & Young, shared that his wife had been in Wichita for work, though she had always been uneasy about flying. Later, he and a relative were seen pacing through Terminal 2 at Reagan Airport.

The collision occurred around 9 p.m. when American Airlines Flight 5342, en route from Wichita, Kansas, collided with a Black Hawk helicopter on a training mission, as confirmed by the Federal Aviation Administration. Just moments before the crash, air traffic controllers had asked if the pilots could land on a shorter runway, to which they agreed, adjusting their approach.

Seconds before the crash, controllers asked the helicopter if it had the incoming plane in sight, instructing it to “pass behind the CRJ,” signaling it to wait for the plane. The plane’s radio transponder stopped transmitting approximately 2,400 feet from the runway, over the center of the Potomac River. Among the passengers were figure skaters returning from the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, along with their Russian coaches, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.

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