About 30 bodies have been removed from the wreckage caused by a mid-air crash between a passenger plane and a helicopter in Washington.
The incident occurred early Thursday morning on the Potomac River in Washington, near Ronald Reagan National Airport.
According to the BBC, 64 people were on the American Airlines flight, and three were on the Black Hawk military helicopter when the collision occurred.
Several teenage figure skaters and their families, returning from an elite training camp in Wichita, and two former Russian world champions were among those on board the plane.
However, the US authorities have said they do not believe there are any survivors of the plane crash.
The Washington DC Fire and EMS Department chief, John Donelly, described the situation as an “extremely frigid” rescue condition for the emergency responders who have been working since the incident occurred.
He said the responders’ operation moved from “rescue” to “recovery” as it became clear that no one onboard the plane was likely to survive the crash.
“At this point, we don’t believe there are any survivors from this accident.”
The US authorities said the plane broke into three pieces and fell into about 7ft of water in the river alongside the helicopter.
Trump reacts
In his reaction, President Donald Trump said the mid-air collision could have been prevented.
Speculating the cause of the crash, he said, “The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time.”
According to him, the passenger aeroplane had been on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport before the crash.
“It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, 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!!!” Mr Trump posted on Truth Social early Thursday morning.
However, American Airlines’ chief executive, Robert Eisen, said the cause of the collision is still unknown.
“At this point we do not know why the military aircraft came into the path of the PSA aircraft,” he said, adding that the pilot was “experienced”, with six years at the airline.
The Ronald Reagan airport was closed following the crash.
