CNN news anchor Kaitlan Collins broke down in tears on air during a heart-wrenching interview with a man whose wife and daughter were passengers aboard the doomed American Airlines jet that crashed into the Potomac River after colliding with a military chopper last week.
Andy Beyer appeared on “The Source” Monday night to remember his wife, Justyna, and their daughter, 12-year-old figure skater Brielle, and shared the devastating moment he learned both had died in the fiery Jan. 29 crash that claimed the lives of 67 people.
“We were supposed to pick them up, me and my son, like we did for these trips all the time,” Beyer told Collins, with his head down as he spoke in front of a wall of family portraits.
“We were waiting for them nearby Reagan in the parking lot, and we were texting with them right before they were supposed to land and 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.”
Someone then confirmed the plane had crashed. He broke the news to his 6-year-old son, who began to sob and let out a gut-wrenching “No!”
“It really hurt. That’s how we found out before anything was really official. We already knew,” Beyer said.
The grief-stricken husband and father remembered his daughter — who battled cancer at 4 months old — as “the most amazing gift” and referred to his 42-year-old wife as his “soulmate” and “the most wonderful mother.”
Beyer, who grew up always wanting a family, said he and his wife were “living our dream.”
Collins, who was visibly emotional during the six-minute interview, got choked up and wiped away tears after hearing Beyer share why he felt it was so important to talk about his wife and daughter.
“They, like all the victims, deserve to be remembered. They deserve to have their story known to the world,” a heartbroken Beyer 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. So that’s why I wanted to share their story.”
Collins and Beyer sat in silence for a few moments as the usually stone-faced anchor struggled to gain her composure to thank the devastated patriarch for paying tribute to his slain family.
“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,” a shaken Collins said.
“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.”
All 67 bodies have been recovered from the frigid Potomac River after the passenger plane carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided with the Army Black Hawk helicopter while attempting to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport around 9 p.m. last Wednesday.
The chopper, which was carrying three soldiers, was conducting a training mission when it exceeded its maximum permitted altitude of 200 feet and collided with the aircraft on the path jets use to go in and out of DCA.
The collision is the deadliest commercial crash in the US in more than two decades.