Following a mid-air collision with a military helicopter, a passenger plane carrying 64 passengers fell into Washington’s Potomac River on Wednesday.
According to US media, several remains were recovered from the murky, almost frigid water.
Divers could be seen in the glare of strong lights as they dove into the snow-lined Potomac to explore the wreckage of both aircraft as part of a huge search and rescue operation.
Approximately 300 rescue personnel were working in “extremely rough” conditions, and Washington Fire Chief John Donnelly told reporters during a news briefing that they had little reason to believe anyone was still alive.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters, “We’re going to be out there as long as it takes.”
While NBC claimed over a dozen bodies retrieved, CBS News, citing local sources, indicated at least 18.
A number of skaters, coaches, and officials were on the flight, according to US Figure Skating, while Moscow officials verified that married Russian couple Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, the 1994 world pairs champions, were on board.
“We unfortunately see that these sad reports are being confirmed. Our other fellow citizens were there,” the spokesperson for the Kremlin stated.
US Army officials said the helicopter involved was a Black Hawk transporting three soldiers on a “training flight.”
Witness Ari Schulman was driving home when he noticed what he described as “a stream of sparks” overhead.
The Bombadier plane, operated by an American Airlines subsidiary, was approaching Reagan National Airport at approximately 9:00 pm (0200 GMT) after departing Wichita, Kansas, when the collision occurred.
“Initially I saw the plane and it looked fine, normal. It was right about to head over land,” he told CNN.
“Three seconds later, and at that point it was banked all the way to the right… I could see the underside of it, it was lit up a very bright yellow, and there was a stream of sparks underneath it,” Schulman added.
“It looked like a Roman candle.”
In an official statement, President Donald Trump said he had been “fully briefed” and added, “may God bless their souls” to any victims.
Less than four hours after the tragedy, he took to social media to criticize air traffic control, while other officials emphasized, they were waiting for investigations to be completed.
“The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“Why didn’t the helicopter go up or down or turn. Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!”
All aircraft at Reagan National were ordered to ground by the Federal Aviation Administration, and the airport was not scheduled to reopen until 11:00 am (1600 GMT) on Thursday.
US Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas described the crash as “nothing short of a nightmare,” while the CEO of American Airlines released a video statement expressing “deep sorrow.”
Over the nation’s capital, it seemed puzzling how a passenger airliner with contemporary collision-avoidance technology and close traffic controllers could collide with a military aircraft.
The airspace over Washington is frequently congested, with helicopters—military and civilian, and transporting high-ranking officials or politicians—buzzing around day and night and planes flying low over the city to land at Reagan Airport.
In January 1982, Air Florida Flight 90, a Boeing 737, took off from the same airport but crashed rapidly, striking the 14th Street bridge and plunging through the ice into the Potomac River. The crash was fatal. There were seventy-eight fatalities.
Investigators found that the pilot had not activated enough de-icing protocols.
The previous significant deadly US air accident occurred in 2009, when all 49 persons on board Continental Flight 3407, which was traveling from New Jersey to Buffalo, New York, perished.