Thirty of the 67 people that died when a military chopper collided with a commercial plane in Washington DC, have been named.
Among the victims were figure skating sisters Everly, aged 14, and 11-year-old Alydia Livingston, aged 14, as well as Asra Hussain – the wife of the man who shared that he was praying she was going to be pulled out of the water just hours after the accident took place.
At 8.47pm ET (January 29), a PSA Airlines aircraft, which is owned by American Airlines, collided mid-air with a BlackHawk helicopter carrying three soldiers who were taking part in a training flight, according to a US military official.
Flight 5342 was approaching Ronald Reagan National Airport in preparation to land, having taken off in Wichita, Kansas.
The wreckages of both the plane, which 60 passengers had boarded along with four crew members, and the chopper crashed into the Potomac River.
A full list of victims that have been verified, included 26-year-old Asra Hussain – Hamaad Raza’s wife, as her husband revealed to WUSA9 that he had been in contact with her just minutes before the incident took place.
Asra Hussain, whose husband told a reporter he was praying she was pulled from the river alive, was among the dead (Instagram)
“I’m just praying that someone is pulling her out of the river right now as we speak, that’s all I can pray for, I’m just praying to God,” Raza told the news outlet. “She texted me that they were landing in 20 minutes.”
Talking through his text messages, he said the rest of his texts did not get delivered, adding: “That’s when I realized something was up.”
The list read: Spencer and Christine Lane, Grace Maxwell, 53-year-old Evgenia Shishkova, and 56-year-old Vadim Naumov, Jinna and Jin Han, Asra Hussain, First Officer Samuel Lilley, Captain Jonathan Campos, Danasia Elder and Ian Epstein – both were flight attendants.
It continued: BlackHawk crew member Ryan O’Hara, 40-year-old Mark Stovall, 30-year-old Jesse Pitcher, 59-year-old Inna Volyanskaya, Wendy Shaffer, Alexandr Kirsanov, Sean Kay and Angela Yang, Everly and Alydia Livingston, Natalya Gudin,Alexandr KirsanovDisney on Ice skater Inna Volyanskaya sadly died in the crash (Instagram)
Kiah Duggins, Elizabeth Keys, Sarah Lee Best, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves – the Blackhawk Pilot, 12-year-old Brielle Beyer and 42-year-old Justyna Beyer.
Volyanskaya was a Disney on Ice skater and actor who competed for the Soviet Union.
“She was one of the best skaters I’ve ever seen, honestly. She was one of the best pair girls to skate,” her ex-husband Ross Lansel, told News4.
“Just knowing the impact she made to all the skaters and everyone just hurts my soul, and just I wish all those kids that she taught, just my condolences, and I wish them — all my prayers go out to them.”
