A passenger jet carrying 64 people collided with a military helicopter midair on Wednesday in Washington’s Potomac River, and several bodies were discovered near the dark, nearly free of snow.
Divers were scouring the wreckage of both aircraft as a massive search and rescue operation was taking place. They were clearly visible in the flash of bright lights as they plunged into Potomac.
According to Washington Fire Chief John Donnelly, about 300 emergency personnel, including about 300, were operating in “extremely rough” conditions and had no idea how likely they would 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 18 bodies had been recovered, while NBC reported more than a dozen.
Officials in Moscow confirmed that married Russian couple Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who won the 1994 world pairs title, were on the jet, while US Figure Skating reported that several athletes, coaches, and officials were on the flight.
“We regret to see that these depressing reports are being confirmed. According to Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, “our other fellow citizens were there.”
The Bombadier plane operated by an American Airlines subsidiary was approaching Reagan National Airport at around 9: 00 pm (0200 GMT) after flying from Wichita, Kansas, when the collision happened.
According to US Army officials, the helicopter involved was a “training flight” in which three soldiers were taken.
Witness Ari Schulman observed what he termed “a stream of sparks” as he drove home.
“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 that’s when it was banked all the way to the right,” Schulman continued. “I could see the underside of it, it was lit up a very bright yellow, and there was a stream of sparks underneath,” she continued.
“It looked like a Roman candle”.
Trump criticizes traffic control –
President Donald Trump said in an official statement that he had been “fully briefed”, and added of any victims, “may God bless their souls”.
He took to social media to criticize air traffic control less than four hours after the disaster, while other officials emphasized that investigations were still being conducted.
“The airplane was approaching the airport in a flawless and routine manner. For a long time the helicopter kept going straight at the airplane. 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 request that the helicopter be seen instead of asking if it had been seen? This unfortunate circumstance appears to have been avoided. NOT GOOD!! “!
Reagan National was set to reopen on Thursday at 11:00 am (1600 GMT), but the Federal Aviation Administration ordered the grounding of all aircraft.
The collision was described as “nothing short of a nightmare,” according to the chief executive of American Airlines, who released a video statement in which he expressed “deep sorrow.”
Crowded airspace
A passenger plane carrying passengers and passing traffic controllers could not collide with a military aircraft over the capital.
Washington’s airspace is frequently crowded, with helicopters carrying senior politicians or officials on day and night and planes flying in low over the city at Reagan Airport.
In January 1982, Air Florida Flight 90, a Boeing 737, took off from the same airport and quickly crashed into the Potomac River, smashing the 14th Street bridge and through the ice. Seventy-eight people died.
The pilot, according to investigators, allegedly violated enough de-icing laws.
All 49 people aboard Continental Flight 3407 from New Jersey to Buffalo, New York, collided and died in a major US air accident in 2009.
Source: Channels TV
Leave a Reply