So far, 28 bodies have been recovered from the accident involving an American Eagle plane (a subsidiary of American Airlines) carrying 64 people, colliding with a Black Hawk military helicopter with three occupants. Authorities stated, "We do not believe there are survivors. We have recovered 27 people from the plane and one from the helicopter." American Airlines, on the other hand, blames the helicopter for the incident and states they "do not know" why it "interfered" with their route.
Emergency teams have worked all night to locate the victims in the Potomac River. Both aircraft have been located, including one of the commercial plane's black boxes. President of the United States, Donald Trump, in his statement, accused Obama and Biden of the accident for hiring individuals with "low intelligence" and "mental problems" as air traffic controllers, as well as diversity policies. He insists that the transportation safety oversight agency had individuals "without limbs, with mental problems."
The air traffic recordings capture the audio of the moments before and after the accident. In the recordings, a controller warns the helicopter to pass behind the commercial plane: "Do you have a CRJ (referring to the plane) in sight? Pass behind it." Shortly after, another plane alerts the air control saying, "Tower, did you see that?" referring to the accident.
The plane was carrying several ice skaters, along with their family and coaches, returning from the U.S. Championships 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.
US Authorities Recover Black Box of the Crashed Plane in Washington
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder of the crashed plane in Washington on Thursday night, according to local media.
The recorders are now at the NTSB laboratories for evaluation.
NTSB spokesperson, Peter Knudson, told USA Today that there are no additional recorders on the plane, and investigators are searching for the helicopter's recorder.
The Black Hawk military helicopter, with three people on board, was on a training flight, and its crew was "quite experienced," as detailed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday.
Federal aviation investigators promised earlier today that they will find the cause of the tragic collision.