Fears for all on board after midair collision over Washington DC
Multiple people have been killed in a midair collision between a passenger jet and an army helicopter in Washington DC.
American Airlines said 60 passengers and four crew were aboard the CRJ-700 aircraft when it crashed into the Potomac River.
The US Army confirmed three soldiers were on board the helicopter.
Former world champion Russian figure skaters Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were two of the passengers on the American Airlines flight, according to Russian state media.
Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said she was unable to give an exact figure of how many people had died and how many bodies had been recovered.
“I speak for the people of Washington … who are extremely sorry for the families who are experiencing loss tonight,” she said.
“My sorrow for all of the people and crew on the plane and our military personnel on the helicopter is very deep.
“We are executing a rescue operation and are working diligently in very dark and cold conditions, cold water to execute this rescue operation.”
Kansas senator Roger Marshall said: “When one person dies it’s a tragedy, but when many, many, many people die it’s an unbearable sorrow.”
A massive search and rescue effort involving multiple agencies has been underway for hours.
Authorities said it would continue through the night, focused on the river.
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There are about 300 emergency services personnel, including divers, at the scene, Washington DC fire and emergency services chief John Donnelly said.
“It’s a highly complex operation,” he said.
“The conditions out there are extremely rough for the responders. It’s cold and they are dealing with relatively windy conditions.”
He said there was ice on the river, and the water was dark and murky, making it difficult for divers.
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The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the midair crash occurred just before 9pm (local time), when Flight 5342, that had departed from Wichita, Kansas, collided with a military Black Hawk helicopter while on approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
The helicopter was on a training flight.
Military aircraft frequently conduct training flights in and around the congested and heavily-restricted airspace, almost 5 kilometres south of the White House and the Capitol.
US President Donald Trump said he had been “fully briefed on this terrible accident” and, referring to the passengers, added, “May God Bless their souls”.
“Thank you for the incredible work being done by our first responders. I am monitoring the situation and will provide more details as they arise,” he said.
Mr Trump later poster more on Truth Social.
“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,” he wrote.
“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!!!”
Webcams captured the moment, with the vision appearing to show the two aircraft nearing each other before erupting into a ball of flames.
Controllers speak to helicopter moments before collision
A few minutes before landing, air traffic controllers asked the arriving jet to land on the shorter runway 33.
The pilots confirmed they were able to.
Controllers then cleared the plane to land.
Flight tracking sites showed the plane adjust its approach to the new runway.
Less than 30 seconds before the crash, an air traffic controller asks the helicopter if it has the arriving plane in sight.
The controller made another radio call to the helicopter moments later: “PAT 25 pass behind the CRJ.”
The audio from flight tracking sites doesn’t record any response from the helicopter, if any, to the warnings from air traffic control.
Seconds after that the two aircraft collided.
The airport said that all take-offs and landings had been halted as emergency personnel responded to an aircraft incident.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it was gathering more information on the incident.
American Airlines said it would provide more information as it became available.
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport was expected to remain closed until at least 11am on Friday (local time).
There has not been a fatal passenger airplane accident involving a US airliner since February 2009, but a series of near-miss incidents in recent years have raised serious safety concerns.
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