C T Online Desk: A US passenger plane carrying 64 people crashed into Washington DC’s chilly Potomac River after colliding midair with a military helicopter on a nighttime training exercise Wednesday, prompting a major emergency response and the grounding of all flights. After the incident at least 18 bodies have been recovered.
The plane had been about to land at nearby Reagan National Airport after flying from Kansas.
American Airlines, whose subsidiary operated the flight, said “there were 60 passengers and four crew members on board the aircraft.”
A US Army official said the helicopter involved was a Black Hawk model carrying three soldiers — their status currently unknown. They had been on a “training flight,” a separate military spokesperson said in a statement.
Washington police said “there is no confirmed information on casualties at this time.”
However, a massive search and rescue operation was in progress, with divers visible as they plunged into the snow-lined Potomac.
The Washington Post quoted unnamed sources saying police had started to pull multiple bodies from the water.
Witness Ari Schulman described “a stream of sparks” and what looked like a large firework when the collision erupted overhead as he drove home.
“Initially I saw the plane and it looked fine, normal. It was right about to head over land,” he told CNN.
“Three seconds later, and at that point it was banked all the way to the right… I could see the underside of it, it was lit up a very bright yellow, and there was a stream of sparks underneath it,” Schulman added. “It looked like a Roman candle.”
President Donald Trump said in an official statement that he had been “fully briefed” and said of any victims, “may God bless their souls.”
But less than four hours after the disaster — and while other officials stressed they were waiting for investigations to unfold — he went on social media to critique the air traffic control.
“The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing,” Trump wrote on his app Truth Social.
“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!!!”
