A husband filled with panic, whose wife was on the ill-fated American Airlines plane, shared the last message she texted him just moments before the tragic accident occurred.
The tragedy happened just before 9pm when the plane crashed with a helicopter mid-air in Washington DC.
Shocking images show the jet that plunged into Potomac River split in two.
Horror CCTV from the Kennedy Center showed the moment the aircraft burst into flames.
All 64 people onboard – 60 passengers and four crew – are feared dead.
A distressed husband, whose 26-year-old wife was on the plane said his last contact with his wife was just a few minutes before the crash.
Hamaad Raza told WUSA from near Reagan National Airport: “She texted me that they were landing in 20 minutes.”
He then showed undelivered messages on his phone saying “That’s when I realized something was up.”
He added: “I’m just praying that someone is pulling her out of the river right now. That’s all I can pray for.”
He said his wife had gone to Wichita for work but admitted she never felt comfortable flying.
The man alongside another family member are desperately waiting for updates at Terminal 2 at Reagan Airport.
The airport is set to remain closed until at least 11am.
The heartbreaking incident took place on a Wednesday night as American Eagle Flight 5342 from Kansas was in the process of landing on Runway 33 at Ronald Reagan International Airport before colliding with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter.
Horror CCTV from the Kennedy Center showed the moment the aircraft burst into flames after crashing in the air.
Officials said there are “many, many, many” people dead, but have not confirmed the tragic toll.
A law enforcement source told CBS that at least 19 bodies have been pulled from the river so far.
It comes as…
Emergency services are on the scene frantically scouring for survivors in the freezing waters.
The airport’s fire chief saying the operation will last “many hours”.
Chilling audio from air traffic control has revealed the final communications between the aircraft and air traffic control.
Flight tracking data appears to show the plane was at an approximate altitude of 300ft when it crashed.
Less than 30 seconds before the crash, one controller asked the helicopter if it could see the plane.
The controller made another call to the chopper just moments later, saying: “PAT 25 pass behind the CRJ.”
But seconds later, the plane and helicopter crashed.
The doomed plane was packed with figure skaters including former champion figure skaters Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.
How common are domestic flights in the US?
by Georgie English, Foreign News Reporter
EVERY single day the Federal Aviation Administration oversees 45,000 flights with almost three million passengers on board
This covers a huge 29 million square miles of airspace from all over the US.
During peak hours, the skies can host as many as 5,400 airplanes simultaneously, posing a significant challenge for aviation professionals and air traffic controllers to ensure the safety and orderly movement of all aircraft.
This means that any wrong call or misstep from either flight crew or controllers can result in a fatal tragedy.
A shortage of air traffic controllers in the past has caused delayed flights and raised a number of safety concerns.
Washington DC’s airspace in particular is extremely busy at peak times.
There have been several near-miss incidents at Reagan National Airport in recent years including a near-collision in May 2024 between an American Airlines jet and a small plane.
A similar catastrophe almost occurred a month earlier between a Southwest and JetBlue flight.
Reagan National also features a much shorter runway than many others with over 90 per cent of outgoing and in-going flights using the main one.
This makes it the busiest single runway in the US with over 800 takeoffs and landings each day – or one every minute for much of the day.
USA Figure Skating said several members of its skating community were also on board.
It said that the athletes, coaches and relatives were travelling back home from a development camp held in Wichita, Kansas.
It said: “We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts.
“We will continue to monitor the situation and will release more information as it becomes available.”
The skaters were a part of the National Development Team and had competed at the US Figure Skating Championships that was held between January 20 to 26 in Wichita, Kansas.
Meanwhile President Trump has questioned how the smash happened on a “clear night”.
He wrote on Truth Social: “The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport.
“The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time.
“It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn.
“Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane.
“This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!”
