A mid-air collision of a commercial airliner and a US Army helicopter, which sent both aircraft into the freezing waters of Washington’s Potomac River Wednesday night, has left all of the jet’s 64 passengers and crew members dead, according to local officials.
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Speaking in a White House briefing, US President Donald Trump said that federal agencies had launched an investigation to determine the cause of the crash as soon as possible, but also insisted that it was his “common sense” opinion that diversity policies pursued by previous administrations was part of the cause.
Shortly before that, Washington’s fire and EMS chief John Donnelly told reporters that the rescue operation had switched to a recovery mission, adding that rescue efforts in waters just a few hundred metres from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, were hampered by “extremely frigid conditions,” as well as “heavy wind” and “ice on the water”.
“We don’t believe there are any survivors from this accident, and we have recovered 27 people from the plane and one from the helicopter,” Donnelly said. “The district office of the medical examiner has leaned on reuniting these bodies, and these people, with their loved ones, and we will continue to work to find all the bodies and collect them.”
The collision occurred during the final approach of a CRJ700 jet operated by PSA Airlines, a subsidiary of American Airlines, and a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter operating out of Fort Belvoir, Virginia, with three crew members. The jet’s fuselage was left in three pieces in waist-deep water.
American flight 5342, carrying 60 passengers and four crew from Wichita, Kansas, had approval to land on runway 33 just before 9pm ET when it struck the military helicopter, which was on a “training flight” with three personnel on board.