A young college student returning from her grandfather’s funeral was one among the casualties aboard the American Airlines regional passenger flight that crashed with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter in midair.
Grace Maxwell, a 20-year-old from Wichita, Kan., boarded the aircraft on Wednesday, Jan. 29, after attending her grandfather Charles Andrew Winter’s burial in Kansas, according to her father, Dean Maxwell. She was returning to Cedarville University in Ohio, where she studied biomedical engineering.
Grace was aboard American Airlines flight 5342 from Wichita, Kan., when it collided with a military aircraft, sending both into the Potomac River shortly before 9 p.m. on Wednesday.
There were 64 persons on the plane (60 passengers and four crew members) and three troops on the helicopter. Officials have frequently said that they think there are no survivors.
Dean informed the publication that officials have yet to contact him about his daughter, and he is unsure whether she is among the 28 passengers retrieved from the Potomac River. “We do know she was on the plane.”
He informed The Wichita Eagle that he had spoken with the American Airlines Care Team several times and that they had promised to call him once they got information. The airline set up a hotline for guests’ loved ones.
“If you believe you may have loved ones on board Flight 5342, please call American Airlines toll-free at 800-679-8215,” the company stated in a statement Wednesday.
WLWT reports that Grace, a mechanical engineering major at Cedarville University, will graduate in 2026. The university’s president will speak to students about her passing during an all-campus chapel service on Friday, Jan. 31.
“As you may imagine, the last 24 hours have been extremely difficult for the Maxwell family and the Cedarville University community. “As a university, we do not want to use this tragic event to do anything other than honor Grace, her family, and Jesus,” a campus official told WLWT.
Dr. Tim Norman, Grace’s secondary adviser, characterized her as a “quiet person with a keen interest in helping others through engineering.”
Grace was not the only student aboard the trip. Three kids and six parents from Virginia’s Fairfax Public Schools were also passengers, according to Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid in an email to PEOPLE.
The American Airlines flight carried fourteen figure skaters from the United States, including six members of The Skating Club of Boston: teenagers Spencer Lane and Jinna Han, their moms Christine Lane and Jin Han, and teachers Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov. The trip also included Everly and Alydia Livingston, sisters aged 14 and 11, from the Figure Skating Club.
The collision also claimed the lives of four Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters Local 602 members and one Plumbers and Gasfitters Local 5 member.
Four flight attendants were on duty: Ian Epstein, 52; Danasia Elder, 34; Sam Lilley, 28; and Jonathan Campos, 34.
The Black Hawk chopper crashed, killing three troops, including Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves.
A Cedarville University official did not immediately reply to PEOPLE’s request for further information on Thursday.