Tragic loss: Pakistani woman among victims of plane crash after midair collision

Asra Hussain Raza, the only Pakistani passenger aboard the ill-fated flight 5342, tragically lost her life when the plane collided midair with an army helicopter and crashed into a river.

Just 20 minutes before the scheduled landing at Washington’s Reagan National Airport, Asra sent a message to her husband, Hammad Raza, saying, “The plane is about to land,” unaware that the collision and ensuing disaster were imminent. Hammad was at the airport, eagerly awaiting his wife’s arrival when the tragic news broke.

In an emotional statement, Asra’s father-in-law, Hashim Raza, spoke of the deep pain his family is experiencing. Holding back tears, he said, “Asra was everything to us. And now my son is a widower at 25. What do I say to him? They had planned to have children; they were so much looking forward to that.”

Asra and Hammad had met at Indiana University Bloomington, where she studied corporate finance and excelled as a straight-A student. Her father-in-law recalled that when Hammad first met Asra, he boldly declared, “I’m going to marry her.”

Asra later pursued a master’s degree in public health from Columbia University and went on to work for a consulting firm in Washington.