Washington [US], January 31: All 64 people on board an American Airlines passenger jet and all three soldiers on board an army helicopter that collided over Washington are presumed dead, officials said on Thursday after an overnight search operation in the icy Potomac River.
"At this point, we don't believe there are any survivors from this accident," Washington fire chief John Donnelly said at a morning press conference. He said that the bodies of 27 people on the plane and one from the helicopter have been recovered from the river that passes by the US capital.
"We are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation," he said.
American Airlines Flight 5342 was travelling from Wichita, Kansas to Washington's Reagan National Airport when it collided with the Black Hawk military helicopter as it was approaching the runway shortly before 9pm on Wednesday (0200 GMT Thursday), sending both aircraft plummeting into the river.
Some 300 emergency responders deployed to locate survivors were racing against time as they searched the dark and icy waters overnight.
Donnelly called the multi-agency operation "highly complex." The Pentagon said the Black Hawk army helicopter had been on a training flight when colliding with the plane.
American Airlines chief Robert Isom said the cause of the accident was still unclear.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said that all of Washington is mourning "for the families who are experiencing loss tonight."
In a social media post, President Donald Trump called the collision "a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented." A group of figure skaters and coaches were on board the plane, according to a statement from the US Figure Skating federation quoted by local media.
"US Figure Skating can confirm that several members of our skating community were sadly aboard American Airlines Flight 5342, which collided with a helicopter yesterday evening in Washington, DC," the governing body said.
According to the statement, the athletes, coaches and family members were returning home from a national development camp for top juvenile figure skaters held in conjunction with the US figure skating championships in Wichita, Kansas.
The Kremlin confirmed that two figure skaters of Russian origin were on board the flight, according to Russian state media. The TASS news agency said that the victims were 1994 world champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov. The duo was most recently working as coaches in the United States.
"This sad fact has been confirmed," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by TASS. He added that there were also "other of our fellow citizens" on board.
Source: Qatar Tribune
