Washington, Jan 30 (IANS) Rescue teams have recovered 27 bodies of passengers of the American Airlines plane and one from the US army Black Hawk helicopter that were involved in a mid-air collision, officials said Thursday morning, adding they don’t believe there are any survivors.
The plane — American Eagle Flight 5342 — was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members while the helicopter had three service members.
“At this point, we don’t believe there are any survivors from this accident,” D.C. Fire Chief John Donnelly said Thursday at a news conference, adding that rescue teams have recovered 27 bodies from the plane and one from the helicopter.
The plane, which was coming from Wichita in the US state of Kansas, was on a landing flight path to the Reagan National Airport in Washington DC. The two aircraft fell into the Potomac River that runs along the airport. The plane broke into pieces while the helicopter was found upside down in the river.
“I have been fully briefed on the terrible accident which just took place at Reagan National Airport,” President Donald Trump said in a statement. “May God Bless their souls. Thank you for the incredible work being done by our first responders. I am monitoring the situation and will provide more details as they arise.”
Rescue helicopters hovered over the river with flood lights as boats and rescuers combed the river for survivors and bodies.
The collision reportedly took place around 8:47 pm Wednesday.
The Army helicopter was a UH-60 Black Hawk on a training flight, US military officials have said. It was assigned to Bravo Company of the 12th Aviation Battalion, which operates out of Davison Army Airfield at Fort Belvoir, in nearby Virginia.
Two renowned former Russian figure skaters were on board the passenger plane, the Kremlin has said according to reports.
They were Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov did not identify them at a briefing but confirmed when asked if they were on board.
He also suggested that other Russian nationals were aboard the crashed flight.
“There were other of our fellow citizens there as well,” he said.
Shishkova and Naumov won gold at the 1994 Figure Skating World Championship for Russia. The Washington Post reported the married pair lived in the United States since at least 1998, where they coached young ice skaters.
–IANS
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