A US operated airplane carrying a total of 64 individuals, consisting of 60 passengers and four crew members, experienced a collision with a military helicopter while attempting to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport near the nation's capital, prompting a thorough search and rescue operation in the waters of the Potomac River.
However, those on the scene conclude that there are no survivors on the two planes, the officials stated at a second press conference in Washington earlier this Thursday morning.
"We do not believe there are any survivors from this incident," said John Donnelly, the chief of the DC fire department.
We are all cooperating to search the area and locate all survivors.
So far, 28 bodies have been found in total, with 27 from the plane and one from the helicopter that was carrying a crew of three soldiers on a training mission when it crashed.
Searchers located the plane's body in three sections, upside down in the water, about waist-high. The wreckage of the aircraft's helicopter was also found. The difficulty in recovering the plane was made worse by the cold weather conditions, which continued to hinder operations Thursday.
The two aircraft were operating according to their normal flight plans on a clear night with excellent visibility, according to the authorities.
Following the incident, all take-offs and landings from Reagan — one of the three major airports near Washington — were temporarily suspended as law enforcement helicopters conducted a thorough search above the scene for potential survivors.
'The unfortunate situation that should have been avoided'
Multiple US figure skaters who were returning from a training camp were on the American Airlines flight, when the incident occurred, according to the relevant authorities.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stated that she would be mobilizing all available resources from the US Coast Guard for search and rescue missions.
"We are actively supervising the situation and remain prepared to assist local responders," Noem stated in a post on X.
US President Donald Trump stated he had been "fully briefed on this deplorable incident" and, referring to the passengers, added, "May God bless their spirits."
Posting on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump stated: "This is a grave situation that appears to have been preventable. It does not bode well."
Vice President J.D. Vance asked fans on the social media platform X to "say a prayer for all those affected".
The Federal Aviation Administration reported a mid-air collision occurred around 9 pm local time (3 am Central European Time) when a regional jet, which had departed from Wichita, Kansas, collided with a military helicopter on a training flight while descending to an airport runway.
The accident occurred in some of the most highly regulated and closely surveilled airspace globally, mere five kilometers south of the White House and the Capitol.
Video from an observation camera at the nearby Kennedy Centre displays two sets of lights consistent with aircraft connectivity to a fireball.
The airport announced that emergency services were responding to an “aircraft incident occurring on the airfield.”
The incident brought back memories of a fatal accident, where an Air Florida plane crashed into the Potomac River on January 13, 1982, resulting in the loss of 78 lives. The cause of the 1982 crash was linked to adverse weather conditions.