WASHINGTON: Seventy-seven people died after a regional jet of American Airlines regional passengers collided with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter and crashed into the Potomac freezing river near the Reagan Washington National Airport late Wednesday , officials announced on Wednesday.
Bombardier’s jet operated by a subsidiary of American Airlines, transported 64 people, while the Blackhawk army helicopter had three soldiers on board. The wreck of the jet and the helicopter was in the river, while police divers sought more bodies underwater.
“At this stage, we do not think there were survivors,” said the chief of the Columbia district firefighters John Donllly at a press conference on Thursday. “We are now at a point where we are moving from a rescue operation to a recovery operation,” added Donelly.
Speaking at the White House, Donald Trump, confirmed the death of all 67 passengers aboard the jet and the helicopter and launched an extraordinary political attack, accusing hiring of diversity for the tragedy.
The officials told Reuters that helicopter flights had been interrupted for the unity of the army involved in the incident. Passengers on the flight included ice skaters, family and coaches returning from events in Wichita, Kansas, including the former world champion of Russian origin Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.
The collision – The first major accident in the United States since 2009, when 49 people were killed near Buffalo, New York – occurred when the airliner came to land at Reagan National Airport after a flight routine from Wichita.
Radio communications have shown that the helicopter crew knew that the plane was nearby. The dramatic audio of air traffic controllers has shown them on several occasions by asking the helicopter if he had the jet of passengers “in sight”, then just before the accident tells him to “pass behind” the plane.
The American transport secretary, Sean Duffy, said that the helicopter and the plane had piloted standard flight models and that there had been no break in communication. “Everything was standard in the contribution of the accident,” he said. “Do I think it was avoidable?” Absolutely.”
Reagan National is a large airport located a short distance from the city center of Washington, the White House and the Pentagon. Officials have raised concerns about the airport tracks, just opposite Washington.
Airspace is often crowded in the American capital region, which houses three commercial airports and several large military facilities. There have been several quasi-mankishment incidents which sparked an alarm, including a quasi-collision in May 2024.
The PSA Airlines, a regional subsidiary of the CEO of American Airlines, Robert Isom, said that the pilot had about six years of flight experience. Defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, said that the helicopter had been piloted by a “fairly experienced crew” which wore night vision glasses on an annual skills training flight.
Trump used his press conference to launch a large against what he said is left -wing diversity practices under his Democratic predecessors Joe Biden and Barack Obama who, according to him, have held good employees at the Federal Aviation Administration.
“I put security first. Obama, Biden and the Democrats first put politics, “said Trump. “They actually came out with a directive:” too white “. And we want competent people. We must have our smartest people. These must be naturally talented geniuses. »»
Trump opened his press conference by speaking of the country’s “anxiety” and said the investigation would take time. “We don’t know what has led to this accident, but we have very strong opinions and ideas,” said Trump.
Died skaters returned from a training camp in Wichita, the United States’s figure skating said. “Skating is a very united and tight community,” said Doug Zehibe of the Boston skating club, where Shishkova and Naunov have trained.
Two teenage skaters affiliated with the club and their mothers were also on the plane, he told journalists. Russia’s Mash News Out has published a list of 13 skaters, many of whom are children of Russian emigrants in the United States, who, according to him, have been on the plane.
Donelly, Washington DC firefighters, said the conditions were cold and windy, making the operation “extremely rough” for the 300 stakeholders on the scene. CBS News reported that a diving team had recovered one of the two data recorders, the so-called black boxes, from the plane.
