Seven people were aboard the twin-engine Cessna on Thursday that killed retired racer Greg Biffle and his family.

Mere moments before a fatal plane crash Thursday in North Carolina took the lives of retired NASCAR champion Greg Biffle and his family, his wife Cristina Biffle sent her mother a heartbreaking text message that acknowledged their situation in three harrowing words.

“She texted me from the plane and she said, ‘We’re in trouble,’” her mother Cathy Grossu confirmed to People through tears Friday. “So we’re devastated. We’re brokenhearted.”

The early morning crash Thursday killed seven people in total, including 55-year-old Greg Biffle, his 35-year-old wife Cristina, their five-year-old son Ryder and Biffle’s 14-year-old daughter Emma, whom he shared with his ex-wife Nicole Lunders.

Grossu told People that Greg and Cristina Biffle were at her home just one day prior to the crash, confirming they were heading to Florida for a “birthday trip.” Greg Biffle was set to turn 56 next Tuesday.

“I don’t remember what the last words that I said to my daughter or to Greg or to my precious Ryder,” she told the outlet. “I don’t remember. I know we hugged, but I don’t remember those last words and that’s going to haunt me. But they were happy.”

Registered pilot Dennis Dutton and his son Jack, as well as Craig Wadsworth, a beloved motorhome driver for NASCAR racers, were also killed. Their Cessna C550 twin-engine private jet when it crashed at Statesville Regional Airport outside Charlotte.

Federal flight records viewed by local NBC News affiliate WCNC show Dennis Dutton was cleared to fly such planes, but only with a second-in-command on board. The records show that Jack Dutton recently became a certified single-engine pilot.

Greg Biffle and his daughter, seen here in at the Daytona International Speedway in 2016.

Greg Biffle and his daughter, seen here in at the Daytona International Speedway in 2016.Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Greg Biffle, who used his own helicopter last year to help rescue stranded North Carolinians in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, was reportedly certified in March to fly a multi-engine plane. Officials have yet to confirm who was piloting the Cessna on Thursday.

“To think that they would be killed on a birthday trip, that was just such a fun time for the family,” Grossu told People. “And to see the horrific way that it ended, it’s just, it is so hard to bear. I cannot believe they’re gone.”

Footage shared on social media showed billowing smoke at the airport in the immediate aftermath of the crash. Heartfelt tributes have since flooded social media as well.

“They embraced every aspect of their life and every moment,” Grossu said Friday. “And it’s such a loss. They touched so many people’s lives. It is so hard to bear. I cannot believe they’re gone.”