WASHINGTON (AFP) – A passenger jet carrying 64 people crashed into Washington’s Potomac River Wednesday after colliding midair with a military helicopter, with United States (US) media reporting multiple bodies pulled from the dark, near-freezing water.
A massive search and rescue operation was in progress, with divers visible in the glare of powerful lights as they plunged into the snow-lined Potomac to scour the wreckage of both aircraft.
Washington Fire Chief John Donnelly told a press briefing that emergency crews, totaling about 300 people, were working in “extremely rough” conditions and gave little indication they expected to find anyone alive.
“We’re going to be out there as long as it takes,” Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters.
Citing local sources, CBS News said at least 19 bodies had been recovered, while NBC reported more than a dozen. US Figure Skating said several athletes, coaches and officials were aboard the flight, while officials in Moscow confirmed married Russian couple Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov – who won the 1994 world pairs title – were on the jet.
“We unfortunately see that these sad reports are being confirmed. Our other fellow citizens were there,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The Bombardier plane operated by an American Airlines subsidiary was approaching Reagan National Airport at around 9pm after flying from Wichita, Kansas, when the collision happened.
US Army officials said the helicopter involved was a Black Hawk carrying three soldiers on a “training flight.”
Witness Ari Schulman was driving home when he saw what he described as “a stream of sparks” overhead.
“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.”
US President Donald Trump said in an official statement that he had been “fully briefed”, and added of any victims, “may their souls be blessed.”
Less than four hours after the disaster – and while other officials stressed they were waiting for investigations to unfold – he took to social media to critique 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 Truth Social platform.
“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!!!”
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the grounding of all planes at Reagan National and the airport was not due to reopen yet.
American Airlines’ chief executive issued a video statement in which he expressed “deep sorrow,” while US Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas called the collision “nothing short of a nightmare.”
The chances of passengers lasting for long in the freezing waters of the Potomac were very slim, according to experts. On Wednesday, the river was 2.2 degrees Celsius, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
At that temperature, “cold water quickly removes heat from the body which could lead to cold water shock within the first minute, loss of muscle control within 10 minutes or hypothermia within 20 to 30 minutes,” according to the National Weather Service website.
