Casualties as 60-passenger plane collides with chopper in Washington airport

At Reagan Washington National Airport in the United States, a black Hawk helicopter carrying 60 passengers and a number of people are feared dead.

Emergency rescuers have recovered at least 18 passengers’ bodies.

The PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet, which was coming from Wichita, Kansas, collided in midair with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter, according to a preliminary statement from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

After colliding with a military helicopter in midair, the passenger plane slammed into the Potomac River in Washington, DC.

According to multiple news outlets, the plane collided with a helicopter carrying three soldiers, which was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members, according to US defense officials.

As the rescue operation began at the airport, all takeoffs and landings were halted there.

Edward Kelly, the general president of the international association of firefighters, said many firefighters were “engaged in dive operations” on the Potomac River for rescue efforts.

The UK Guardian reports that ambulances and other rescuers rushed to the scene, including members of the military, park police, and the DC Metropolitan Police Department.

President Donald Trump said he had been briefed on the “terrible accident” and praising the “incredible work” done by emergency services.

Ted Cruz, the representative from the United States, stated that “we know there are fatalities” in the plane-chopper collision, but he did not specify where his sources of information were and there have not yet been confirmed casualties.

At a press briefing, the mayor of Washington, D.C., Muriel Bowser, stated that firefighters are “diligently” rescuing victims in “dark and cold” conditions.

U. In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, US President Donald Trump claimed the accident could have been avoided.

Trump claimed that the helicopter was moving “straight at the airplane for an extended period of time” while the plane was “perfect and routine line of approach to the airport.”

“It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn”, he added.

“Why didn’t the control tower ask the helicopter to leave the plane and leave it alone?”

“This is a bad situation that appears to have been avoided,” he said.