Heartbreaking moment man reveals text he received from wife on board American Airlines flight minutes before crash

Hours before the devastating news confirmed that no one had survived the tragedy, Hamaad Raza, the husband of a woman aboard American Eagle Flight 5342, revealed he had a sinking feeling that something was wrong. His wife had been texting him just moments before the crash.

The flight, en route from Wichita, Kansas, to Washington, D.C., collided midair with a U.S. Army helicopter around 9 p.m. Wednesday night. Commercial aircraft are equipped with Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance Systems (TCAS) to prevent such disasters, but aviation officials have yet to explain why no warning was issued.

As the wreckage sank into the icy Potomac River, emergency crews battled the freezing waters overnight, desperately searching for bodies. Dozens have been recovered, officials said.

“Right now, I’m just hoping someone is pulling her out of the river,” Raza told WUSA9 in the early hours of the morning. “That’s all I can pray for. I’m just praying to God.”

He recounted how his wife had messaged him, saying she would be “landing in 20 minutes.” When he replied, his texts remained undelivered. A gnawing fear took hold.

“I realized something might be up at that point,” he said.

Raza described how his wife, who frequently traveled for work, had always been uneasy about flying. “She never really was comfortable,” he shared.

At Ronald Reagan National Airport, where distraught families awaited news, one man told reporters that his daughter’s best friend and her mother were among the passengers. One of them, an ice skater, had been returning from an athletics event in Kansas.

It is believed that several competitors and coaches from the Figure Skating Championship were aboard when the plane went down. Reports from Russian state media confirm that Evgenia Shishkova, a former world champion and ice skating coach, was among the victims, along with her husband and possibly her son.

Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas stated that all 67 individuals on board the two aircraft were presumed dead. Authorities confirmed that none of the three Army crew members on the helicopter were high-ranking officials.

In the wake of the disaster, Ronald Reagan National Airport suspended all flights until at least 11 a.m. Thursday. A chilling video from the nearby Kennedy Center shows two sets of lights merging into a fireball in the night sky.

“I have received a comprehensive briefing on the horrific incident that occurred at Reagan National Airport,” President Donald Trump said in a statement. “May their souls be blessed by God.”

American Airlines issued a helpline for concerned families, urging those who may have had loved ones on Flight 5342 to call 800-679-8215 for more information.

As the river’s dark waters continue to swallow remnants of the wreckage, grief-stricken families are left clinging to the hope that answers—and closure—will come.

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