More than 60 people were feared dead after an American Airlines regional passenger jet collided mid-air with a Black Hawk Military helicopter, with both crashing into the Potomac River, in the United States.
America Airlines said that 60 passengers and four crew members were aboard the jet, while U.S. officials said the helicopter was carrying three soldiers on a training flight.
During a press conference on Thursday, the District of Columbia fire chief, John Donnelly, confirmed that no passenger survived the crash, which occurred near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport around 9:00 pm.
” At this point, we do not believe there were any survivors,” he stated.
Donnelly said 28 bodies had been recovered from the river so far, in what was shaping up to be the deadliest U.S. air disaster in more than 20 years. “We will work to find all the bodies and reunite them with their loved ones,” he said.
“We have been told that there are no survivors. We mourn with all those who have been impacted,” Wichita mayor Lily Wu said at a news conference.
Earlier, the US Figure Skating, in a statement disclosed that several members of its skating community were on board the American Airlines Flight 5342.
It said passengers on the flight included ice skaters, family, and coaches returning from events in Wichita, Kansas, including Russian-born former world champions Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.
“Skating is a very close-knit and tight community. Two teenage skaters affiliated with the club and their mothers were also aboard the plane. We have lost family,” said a tearful Doug Zeghibe of the Skating Club of Boston, where Shishkova and Naumov coached.
Russia’s Mash news outlet published a list of 13 skaters, many of them the children of Russian emigres to the U.S., who it said were believed to have been on the plane.
As learnt, the mid-air collision occurred as the passenger jet was approaching to land at Reagan. Radio communications between the air traffic control tower and the Black Hawk showed the helicopter crew knew the plane was in the vicinity.
U.S. Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy said both the helicopter and the airplane had been flying standard flight patterns, and there had been no breakdown in communication.
“Everything was standard in the lead-up to the crash,” he said. “Do I think this was preventable? Absolutely.”
Air traffic control recordings appear to capture the final attempted communications with the helicopter, call sign PAT25, before it collides with the CRJ jet.
“PAT25, do you have a CRJ in sight? PAT25, pass behind the CRJ,” an air traffic controller says at 8:47 p.m. on Wednesday, according to a recording on liveatc.net.
Seconds later, another aircraft calls in to air traffic control, saying, “Tower, did you see that?” – apparently referring to the crash. An air traffic controller then redirects planes heading to runway 33 to go around.
Webcam video of the crash showed the collision and an explosion lighting up the night sky.
“I just saw a fireball and then it was just gone. I haven’t seen anything since they hit the river,” an air traffic controller was heard saying over the radio.
The crashed American Eagle Flight 5342, was operated by PSA Airlines, an Ohio-based regional subsidiary of American Airlines. The plane was a CRJ-700, the airline said, from a line of regional jets made by Canada’s Bombardier, later sold to Mitsubishi. American Airlines (AAL.O).
CEO Robert Isom said the pilot had about six years of flying experience adding that the company was cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates accidents.
