ARLINGTON, Virginia, USA (AP/AFP) — A passenger jet has collided with a helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington.
That’s according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which says the collision remains under investigation.
There was no immediate word on casualties, but all takeoffs and landings from the airport near Washington have been halted.
Multiple helicopters, including those from the US Park Police and the DC Metropolitan Police Department and US military, were flying over the scene of the incident in the Potomac River DC Fire and EMS said on X that fireboats were on the scene.
Washington, DC, police said on the social platform X that multiple agencies are conducting a search and rescue effort in the Potomac River after an aircraft crash.
Video from an observation camera at the nearby Kennedy Center shows two sets of lights consistent with aircraft appearing to join in a fireball.
The airport said emergency personnel were responding to “an aircraft incident on the airfield.”
US President Donald Trump “has been made aware of this situation and tragically it appears that a military helicopter collided with a regional jet,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News.
AFP reported that some 60 passengers are believed to have been on the ill-fated commercial jet that crashed late Wednesday after a midair collision with a military helicopter near Washington’s airport, a US senator from Kansas said.
“A plane, traveling to the Nation’s capital from Wichita, KS carrying roughly 60 passengers collided with a Military helicopter,” Senator Roger Marshall posted on X, describing the situation as “nothing short of a nightmare.”
US Army confirmed that three soldiers were aboard the military helicopter involved in the crash.
** This is a developing story. Come back here for more updates
