AN AMERICAN Airlines regional passenger jet carrying 64 people and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter collided midair and crashed into the Potomac River near Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday night.
Officials have not confirmed the number of casualties, but many are feared dead.
US Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas, where the flight originated, suggested that most, if not all, on board the aircraft had been killed.
“It’s really hard when you lose probably over 60 Kansans simultaneously,” Marshall said at a press conference at Reagan airport early on Thursday. “When one person dies, it’s a tragedy, but when many, many, many people die, it’s unbearable sorrow. It’s a heartbreak beyond measure.”
Jack Potter, president and CEO of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, said first responders were in “rescue mode.”
American Airlines confirmed that the aircraft had 60 passengers and four crew members. A US official said the Black Hawk helicopter, which was on a training flight, had three soldiers on board.
CBS News, citing a police official, reported that at least 18 bodies had been recovered. Two sources told Reuters that multiple bodies had been pulled from the river.
The collision occurred as the jet, which had departed from Wichita, Kansas, was preparing to land at Reagan airport. Air traffic control recordings indicate the helicopter crew was aware of the passenger plane’s presence.
The Pentagon said an investigation had been launched into the incident.
President Donald Trump, in a post on Truth Social, questioned the helicopter crew’s actions and the role of air traffic controllers.
“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, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn,” Trump wrote Read More…