A father who tragically lost his wife and daughter in the American Airlines plane crash in Washington D.C. has revealed the moment he found out about the horrific incident.
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As previously reported, American Airlines flight 5342, traveling from Wichita, Kansas, crashed while it was coming in to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on January 29.
The aircraft tragically struck a military-operated Black Hawk helicopter and the wreckage of both aircraft plunged into the Potomac River.
It's been confirmed that 60 passengers and four crew members were on the American Airlines flight while the helicopter held three military personnel.
Sadly, there were no survivors.
One of the victims in the devastating crash is Andy Beyer's wife, Justyna, 42, and their 12-year-old daughter, Brielle, who was a talented young figure skater.
The heartbroken father spoke about his loss in an emotional interview with CNN's Kaitlan Collins and recalled the moment he and his six-year-old son were waiting at the airport to pick up their loved ones.
“We were supposed to pick them up, me and my son, like we did for these trips all the time,” he said, sitting in front of a wall of family portraits.
The father and son had been texting Justyna and Brielle moments before their expected arrival. "The tracker said landed and the texts went from blue to green and firetrucks started going by and at that point, I knew something was wrong," he said.
Moments later, someone confirmed that the plane had crashed. Beyer turned to his young son to break the unthinkable news.
“He started sobbing. He let out a gut-wrenching, ‘No!’ It really hurt. That’s how we found out before anything was really official. We already knew,” the dad recalled.
The bereaved man described his late daughter as “the most amazing gift," a fighter who battled cancer at just four months old and grew into an incredible young girl. He also described his wife as his “soulmate” and “the most wonderful mother".
Throughout the six-minute interview, the interviewer visibly struggled to hold back tears as Beyer explained why he felt it was important to share his family’s story.
“They, like all the victims, deserve to be remembered. They deserve to have their story known to the world,” he said. “Everyone dies, right? And they live on through our memories. And I want people to have a memory of them so that they live on.”
For several seconds, Beyer and Collins sat in silence. The anchor wiped away tears, finally gathering herself enough to respond.
“Thank you for doing so, Andy, and I think everyone would be really touched to hear from you, so thank you for coming on to talk about that,” she said, her voice unsteady.
“You’re clearly both amazing parents, Andy, and I just want you to know that everyone is praying for you and thinking of you in this moment. I know that doesn’t help, but everyone is really thinking of you guys,” she added.
The tragic crash has now become the deadliest commercial aviation disaster in the U.S. in over two decades.
The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the cause.
Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this tragedy.