Man whose wife texted him minutes before American Airlines plane crashed pays tribute to 'kindest person he's ever met'

A man whose wife was onboard the fateful American Airlines flight has paid tribute to her, describing her as the 'kindest person he has ever met'.

Hamaad Raza was heartbreakingly en route to the Ronald Reagan National Airport to pick up his spouse Asra Hussain when the mid-air collision occurred on Wednesday (29 January).

He had received a text from her just moments before the passenger plane, which had 64 people onboard, hit a US army helicopter carrying military personnel.

Both aircrafts plummeted into the Potomac River, with President Donald Trump later confirming that there were 'no survivors'.

As officials launched an investigation into the tragedy and retrieved the black boxes from the American Airlines jet, more details about the victims onboard have began to emerge.

The father of the plane's pilot, Sam Lilley, has spoken out about the tragedy, while tributes have also been paid to a Disney On Ice skater Inna Volyanskaya, who also perished in the incident.

And Hamaad Raza, 25, has now recounted the moments that he realised his life had changed forever as he realised the plane his wife was on was involved in the deadly crash.

Yesterday (30 January), he said he had been 'praying' that Asra, 26, had survived while revealing that he had conversed with her in the moments leading up to the incident.

"She texted me that they were landing in 20 minutes," Hamaad told news outlet WUSA. "The rest of my texts did not get delivered. That's when I realised something might be up."

In an emotional interview, the widower told how he watched in horror from Terminal 2 as a string of emergency vehicles raced past him.

"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 told NBC Washington.

"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.

"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."

WASHINGTON, D.C.: A man waiting at the airport tells local news wife was onboard the aircraft and texted him shortly before crash.

"I'm just praying that someone is pulling her out of the river right now."
pic.twitter.com/Cg2i8eCcbH

— AZ Intel (@AZ_Intel_) January 30, 2025

Explaining that Asra had been in the Kansas city of Wichita for work, Hamaad said of his late wife: "Kindest person I’ve ever met.

"She went above and beyond and then took a giant leap over that when it came to doing things for other people, for me, for her parents, for my parents.

"Life is short. Hug your loved ones. Tell them you love them when they’re getting on a flight. Check up on them. Text your family when you land."

Hamaad's father Dr Hashim Raza - a doctor at the Missouri Baptist Medical Center in St Louis - also paid tribute to his daughter-in-law in a social media post.

He wrote: "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."

Hamaad, an accountant at Ernst and Young, is said to have married Asra two years ago.

The couple both attended Indiana University, according to their social media accounts.