iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
At least two Indian-origin passengers were among the 67 people who died in the Washington mid-air crash that took place between an Army helicopter and a commercial airplane at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington on Wednesday (January 29) night.
Vikesh Patel, a GE Aerospace employee, and Asra Hussain Raza, a DC-based consultant, were aboard the ill-fated American Airlines flight 5342 when it collided with the military aircraft. Patel was an MRO Transformational Leader at GE Aerospace, and Raza had recently married her university sweetheart.
Asra Hussain Raza, 26, was one of several victims killed, her father-in-law, Dr. Hashim Raza was quoted in a report of CNN. A daughter of Indian immigrants, Hussain Raza graduated with honors in 2020 from Indiana University and married her college sweetheart in August 2023, Raza said. Raza was a Washington, DC-based consultant who traveled to Wichita twice a month to work on a turnaround project for a hospital there, her father-in-law said. She would often call him at the end of his late emergency room shifts to make sure he stayed awake on the drive home. “She went out of her way for everybody,” Raza said.
Before the accident, Raza messaged her husband about her imminent arrival, but circumstances changed drastically by the time he reached the airport. “She said, ‘We’re landing in 20 minutes,'” Hamaad Raza recounted. This proved to be their final communication. “I was waiting and I started seeing a bunch of EMS vehicles speeding past me, like way too many than normal, and two, my texts weren’t going through,” Hamaad told NBCwashington. “I mean, it’s like you see these things happen in the news, you see them happen in other countries. And then, I show up at the airport, and my wife’s not responding, and I look on Twitter and I see that it’s her flight,” he added.
Vikesh Patel used to reside in Greater Cincinnati, he had joined GE Aerospace recently as an MRO Transformational Leader with nationwide responsibilities. During his ten-plus years at GE Aerospace, Patel served in various positions, including Engine Assembly Engineer, Production Planner, Senior Operations Manager, Lean Transformation Coach, and Site Leader before his recent role change. Larry Culp, GE Aerospace’s chairman and CEO, confirmed Patel’s presence on the flight in a statement to FOX19 on Thursday night. “This is a tragedy not only for our industry but also for the GE Aerospace team as one of our cherished colleagues, Vikesh Patel, was onboard the flight,” Culp said. “Our hearts are with his family and all those impacted by this horrific accident.”