On January 31st at around 9 PM, American Eagle Flight 5432 collided with a UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter while arriving at Ronald Reagan National Airport. The plane contained 60 passengers and 4 crews, while the helicopter contained 3 military members, all of whom, unfortunately, passed away. With 55 of the victims currently identified, I want to recognize all of the heroes from this tragedy, each of whom had personal backstories and lives that they could not continue. I hope my readers will understand how this event exemplifies the unexpected nature of life, provide our deepest condolences to all of the members involved in this incident, and embrace gratitude as we go on with our lives.
Here is a tribute to Asra Hussain Raza, a 26-year-old wife, daughter, and daughter-in-law.
Asra was born in a household of Indian immigrant parents. She graduated from Indiana University in 2020 with a master's degree in hospital management and married her husband, Hamaad Raza, in August 2023. Since then, she has always made an effort to care for others and was actually returning from a work trip to a hospital. In fact, Asra was helping others until the very end.
This did not make the news of the tragedy any easier on her husband and family members, though. Asra's final message to her husband, "We're landing in 20", was soon disproved as her husband, waiting in the airport, saw that there were lines of emergency medical service (EMS) vehicles and his texts were not sending. Hamaad expresses how he often heard of events like this in the news but never expected his own loved ones to be in danger of such tragedies.
Just after being married for two years, Hamaad now has to face the hurt of organizing a funeral for his wife. However, he also has a message for the world: "Life is short. Hug your loved ones. Tell them you love them when they’re getting on a flight".
As consumers and readers of the news, I think it is important for us to acknowledge that these victims could easily have been our loved ones, significant others, or relatives. Taking that into account, I encourage you to be there for anyone who is suffering from the loss of their loved ones due to tragic accidents and continue to live with gratitude today.
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