Emergency teams are working against the clock to try to locate the victims of the collision between an American Airlines plane with 64 people on board and a military helicopter with three occupants. However, the icy water temperature complicates both the survival chances of the passengers and the rescue efforts.
Some American media outlets claim that some bodies have already been recovered, but there is still no official confirmation. The latest figure is provided by NBC, which has reported that "more than 30 bodies" have been recovered. Additionally, one of the black boxes of the commercial plane has been located.
Air traffic recordings capture the audio of the moments before and after the accident. In the recordings, a controller instructs the helicopter to pass behind the commercial plane: "Do you have a CRJ (referring to the plane) in sight? Pass behind it." And shortly after, another plane alerts air control saying, "Tower, did you see that?", referring to the accident.
"Both the helicopter and the plane crashed into the river," a third air traffic controller is heard saying. "I saw a fireball and then it disappeared. I haven't seen anything since it fell into the river. But it was a CRJ (referring to the American Airlines plane) and a helicopter that collided."
The plane was carrying several ice skaters, along with their family and coaches, returning from the U.S. Championship in Kansas. Among the passengers were the Russian former world champion couple, Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, along with their son, Maxim Naumov, whom they were coaching.
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, who claims to be following all the details of the accident, has blamed the helicopter crew for the accident and questioned the role of the control tower. "This is a bad situation that seems like it should have been avoided," he wrote on his Truth Social account.
More than 30 bodies have been recovered, according to NBC
NBC reports that more than 30 bodies have been recovered from the Potomac River, where they fell after the collision between an American Airlines plane and a military helicopter.
The information has not been officially confirmed.
Kremlin confirms presence of Russian citizens on the plane
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed the presence of Russian citizens on the plane. "Unfortunately, these sad news are confirmed. There were also other compatriots of ours there. Today, bad news is coming from Washington," he said.
The Russian news agency TASS had reported that Russian figure skaters Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who were world champions in pairs in 1994, and also Inna Volyanskaya, a former skater who competed for the Soviet Union, were on the plane.
The Russian Presidency spokesperson extended condolences to the families and relatives of the Russians who lost their lives in the accident.
When asked about the possibility of Vladimir Putin extending his condolences to his American counterpart, Donald Trump, he stated that "there are currently no plans for contact at the highest level."
CNN reports statements from Mary Schiavo, former Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Transportation, pointing to the excessive air traffic at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
"You cannot enter the DCA airspace unless you are fully under air traffic control," Schiavo asserts. "Anyone operating there had to coordinate with air traffic control. And we know that happened because air traffic control communicated with the helicopter," she says, referring to the air traffic control recordings.
"Many things can go wrong when there are too many aircraft in very close airspace, and that is DCA," Schiavo states to the mentioned media outlet. "DCA is a very busy airport that opened decades ago. It was supposed to close because it was too close to the city," she concludes.
The worst U.S. aviation accident since 2009
The aviation accident that occurred in Washington when a military helicopter collided with a plane carrying 60 passengers and four crew members is the worst in the United States since 2009.
On February 13 of that year, a Continental Airlines plane crashed into a house near Buffalo, New York, in an accident that claimed 50 lives.
One of the two black boxes of the plane has been found
A dive team recovered one of the two data recorders - the so-called black boxes - from the American Airlines regional passenger plane that crashed near Reagan National Airport in Washington on Wednesday, CBS News reported.
Several ice skating stars were on the American Airlines plane
Last weekend, the U.S. Figure Skating Championships took place in Wichita, and in the following days, a camp had been organized. The top skaters in the country finished on Wednesday and boarded the plane to return home.
"We are devastated by this indescribable tragedy and have the families of the victims in our hearts. We will continue to monitor the situation and release more information as it becomes available," stated the U.S. Figure Skating Federation on X.
Bodies recovered, according to U.S. press
Several bodies have been recovered from the Potomac River after the collision between a passenger plane and a military helicopter, U.S. media reported on Thursday.
CBS News television cited a police authority saying that "at least 18 bodies were recovered," while NBC indicated that "more than a dozen" bodies were found, citing two sources involved in the case.
Air traffic controller audio captures the moment of the accident
Air traffic control recorded audio of the moments before and after the collision between a passenger plane and an Army helicopter. Reuters has collected these recordings.
The LiveATC.net audio, a respected source of flight recordings, captured the last communications between the three crew members of the helicopter - call sign PAT25 - before it collided with the CRJ700 Bombardier jet carrying 64 passengers and crew.
"PAT25, do you have a CRJ in sight? PAT25, pass behind the CRJ," an air traffic controller said at 8:47 p.m. (ET) on Wednesday (01:47 GMT on Thursday).
Seconds later, another plane called air control saying, "Tower, did you see that?", apparently referring to the accident.
An air traffic controller then redirected the planes heading to Runway 33 at Washington Reagan National Airport to turn around,
"Crash, crash, crash, this is a level three alert," one of the air traffic controllers is heard saying in the audio around the time of the accident.
"I don't know if you caught what happened before, but there was a collision on approach to 33. We are going to interrupt operations indefinitely," another controller commented.
"Both the helicopter and the plane crashed into the river," a third air traffic controller is heard saying.
"It was probably in the middle of the river," the controller said. "I saw a fireball and then it disappeared. I haven't seen anything since it fell into the river. But it was a CRJ and a helicopter that collided."