Washington DC plane crash – what we know so far …
It is approaching 4am in Washington DC, where an American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members has crashed after a midair collision with a US army Black Hawk helicopter carrying three service personnel. Here are the headlines:
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Media sources have reported that 19 bodies have been recovered so far from the Potomac river, where both aircraft fell. About 300 first responders were working on the rescue operation. The Potomac River is about 8 feet deep where the aircraft crashed at about 9pm local time on Wednesday night
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The plane, American Eagle flight 5342, had taken off from Wichita, Kansas, and the US figure skating governing body confirming that athletes, coaches, and family members were on board after attending national development camp held in conjunction with the US figure skating championships
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Russian state media has reported that figure skaters Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were on board. The pair, who were married, won the world championships in pairs figure skating in 1994 and lived in the US
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President Donald Trump said the crash “should have been prevented”, adding in a social media post “NOT GOOD!!!”
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Pete Hegseth, sworn in just days ago as Trump’s defense secretary, posted on social media that an investigation has been “launched immediately” by the army and the defense department
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DC fire chief John A Donnelly Sr, described the rescue operation as “highly complex”
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All takeoffs and landings from the airport near the capital were halted, with it expected to reopen at 11am (16.00 GMT) at the earliest
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The next official briefing will be at 7.30am (12.30 GMT) at Reagan Washington national airport
Key events
The official spokesperson for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, has said the data is “confirmed” that former world champion Russian figure skaters Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were on board the crashed American Airlines flight.
Tass reports Peskov said “There were other fellow citizens of ours there too. Bad news from Washington today.”
CBS News reporter Kris Van Cleave has said that human remains and aircraft debris have been washing up on the Virginia side of the Potomac River.
He told the news network the plane broke into multiple pieces, and that diving crews have had some access to the cabin, and have recovered one black box. He also reported that the helicopter “is upside down but appears to be mostly intact.”
American Airlines flight 5342 was inbound to Reagan National with 60 passengers and four crew on board when it collided with a US army Black Hawk helicopter at about 9pm local time on Wednesday night.
Washington DC plane crash – what we know so far …
It is approaching 4am in Washington DC, where an American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members has crashed after a midair collision with a US army Black Hawk helicopter carrying three service personnel. Here are the headlines:
-
Media sources have reported that 19 bodies have been recovered so far from the Potomac river, where both aircraft fell. About 300 first responders were working on the rescue operation. The Potomac River is about 8 feet deep where the aircraft crashed at about 9pm local time on Wednesday night
-
The plane, American Eagle flight 5342, had taken off from Wichita, Kansas, and the US figure skating governing body confirming that athletes, coaches, and family members were on board after attending national development camp held in conjunction with the US figure skating championships
-
Russian state media has reported that figure skaters Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were on board. The pair, who were married, won the world championships in pairs figure skating in 1994 and lived in the US
-
President Donald Trump said the crash “should have been prevented”, adding in a social media post “NOT GOOD!!!”
-
Pete Hegseth, sworn in just days ago as Trump’s defense secretary, posted on social media that an investigation has been “launched immediately” by the army and the defense department
-
DC fire chief John A Donnelly Sr, described the rescue operation as “highly complex”
-
All takeoffs and landings from the airport near the capital were halted, with it expected to reopen at 11am (16.00 GMT) at the earliest
-
The next official briefing will be at 7.30am (12.30 GMT) at Reagan Washington national airport
CNN’s Gabe Cohen has indicated to the news network that the mood among first responders is somber, and that rescue efforts were moving into “a recovery effort.”
I spoke with a law enforcement source just a few minutes ago. He told me that there’s a really somber mood, even at the rescue scene. It feels – certainly not officially – but that we’re sort of moving from that “search-and-rescue operation” into a recovery effort. They have pulled several bodies out. There are fatalities confirmed at the scene. And now we’re just waiting for answers.
While officials wouldn’t give us any information on the recovery, potential survivors, or the fatality count, you could tell it was not good and that, barring a miracle, they were looking at potentially the worst disaster here in Washington in decade.
Associated Press reports that a recording of air tower communications at the time of the crash has been captured by LiveATC.net, which the agency described as “a respected source for in-flight recording.”
In the recording, seconds after the last message from the American Airlines flight, another plane called the tower and said “Tower, did you see that?”
An air traffic controller then redirected planes heading to runway 33 at Ronald Reagan Washington national airport to go around.
“Crash, crash, crash, this is an alert three,” one of the air traffic controllers can be heard saying in the audio.
Another controller remarked “I don’t know if you caught earlier what happened, but there was a collision on the approach into 33. We’re going to be shutting down operations for the indefinite future.”
Local media reports that Ronald Reagan Washington national airport is set to reopen at 11am, but that timing is “fluid” depending on the situation.
US figure skating governing body says it is ‘devastated by this unspeakable tragedy’
Here is the text of a statement from the national US figure skating governing body, confirming that athletes, coaches, and family members were on the crashed plane. It said:
These athletes, coaches, and family members were returning home from the national development camp held in conjunction with the US figure skating championships in Wichita, Kansas.
We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts. We will continue to monitor the situation and will release more information as it becomes available.
Russian state media has also reported that Russian figure skaters and coaches Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who won the world championship in pairs figure skating in 1994, were on board the flight.
19 bodies recovered from scene of Washington DC plane crash – reports
Media sources are reporting that bodies have been recovered from the site of the plane crash in Washington DC. An American Airlines flight operated by PSA collided with a military helicopter as it was approaching Reagan Washington national airport.
NBC Washington, citing two sources close to the recovery efforts, reports that “search-and-rescue crews have recovered the bodies of people who died in the crash,” with the BBC giving the number of bodies recovered as 19.
The plane was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members, while the military Black Hawk helicopter had three people aboard.
US figure skating issued a statement confirming several members of the team, including athletes and coaches were aboard.
The plane had departed from Wichita, Kansas.
Among the passengers aboad the American Airlines plane were figure skating athletes, coaches and family members who had been at a development camp in Wichita, US Figure Skating has said.
Team USA pair skater Luke Wang posted on X:
Praying for all those on the flight from wichita to dc. among the passengers were skaters and coaches. absolutely (sic) heartbreaking.”
Reuters reports, citing the Russian state-run Tass news agency, that world champion Russian figure skaters were aboard the American Airlines plane that crashed near Reagan Washington National airport.
Tass, citing a source, names the Russian figure skaters and coaches as Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov. Shishkova and Naumov, who are married, won the world championship in pairs figure skating in 1994.
Identities of those aboard the plane or helicopter have not yet been officially released.
The wrecked fuselages of both the US military helicopter and the commercial jet involved in a collision over the Potomac River are lying in the water, Washington mayor, Muriel Bowser, told a press briefing early Thursday.
Divers have made their way inside the helicopter, reports NBC News.
First responders have been working now for more than five hours. Speaking at a news conference, DC fire chief John A Donnelly Sr, described the rescue operation as “highly complex”.
He said:
The conditions out there are extremely rough for the first responders. It’s cold. They’re dealing with relatively windy conditions – the wind is hard out on the river.”
