Asra Hussain Raza, the only Pakistani passenger aboard flight 5342, tragically lost her life when the plane crashed into the Potomac River following a midair collision with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter.
Just moments before the disaster, Asra sent a message to her husband, Hammad Raza, saying, “The plane is about to land,” ignorant of the tragedy ahead. Hammad was waiting at Washington’s Reagan National Airport when the crash happened.
Asra, 26, held a corporate finance degree from Indiana University Bloomington and a master’s in public health from Columbia University. She worked for a consulting firm in Washington and frequently traveled for work.
Her father-in-law, Hashim Raza, conveyed deep grief, saying, “She was everything to us… and now my son is a widower at 25. They had dreams of starting a family.” The couple, married for two years, lived in Missouri. Hammad, an accountant at Ernst & Young, had often said that Asra found air travel troubling.
No Survivors in the Fatal Crash
Authorities confirmed that all 60 passengers and four crew members aboard the American Airlines flight trembling, along with three military personnel from the helicopter. The wreckage was revealed in three sections in the shallow waters of the Potomac River, and recovery efforts remain ongoing.
PM Shehbaz Offers Condolences
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed deep sorrow over the tragedy, extending condolences to U.S. President Donald Trump and the American people.
“Extremely distressed by the tragic midair collision in Washington, D.C. Our thoughts and prayers are with President Trump and the American people during this difficult time,” he wrote on X.
He also sent sympathies to the victims’ families and prayed for the safety of any possible survivors.
