Response to deadly aircraft collision over Washington, DC's Potomac River involves hundreds

Multiple emergency crews and vessels responded to the aftermath of a collision between a passenger jet and a military helicopter in the US capital of Washington, DC, after an American Airlines plane was struck by a military helicopter. 

An explosion was captured on video and both aircraft dropped into the frigid waters of Washington’s Potomac River.

In a press conference about the incident, Washington, DC Fire and Emergency Management Services director John A Donnelly said there are believed to have been no survivors from the mid-air collision.

Mr Donnelly said air traffic control from Washington’s Reagan National Airport sounded a response at 20:48, local time on 29 January, and numerous agencies responded, including personnel from the US Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board, Washington’s Metropolitan Harbour Patrol fire boats and fire boats from several other neighbouring municipalities. 

Mr Donnelly said the situation "immediately escalated into a response that ultimately included about 300 people last night. Those responders found extremely frigid conditions. They found wind. They found ice on the water."

"Despite all of those efforts, we are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation. At this point, we don’t believe there are any survivors in this accident," he said.

Multiple bodies have been recovered from the Potomac River by divers and other emergency responders on specialist vessels. Mr Donnelly put the number at 27, while a White House report had the number at 30. In total, the American Airlines flight, a regional service operated under the American Eagle brand by PSA Airlines as Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, in the US to Washington, DC had 60 passengers and four crew on board. The plane was a CRJ-700, regional jet aircraft.

The military helicopter involved in the incident was reported as a Blackhawk helicopter on a training flight with three military personnel on board.

Coastguard vessels, utility craft, police launches, tugs, fire-fighting vessels, rigid inflatable craft and other river boats were seen to be among the waterborne craft that responded after the helicopter collided with the plane as it was approaching Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to land.

More than 300 emergency responders were working in close-to freezing waters through the night to search for survivors.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have launched an investigation into the causes of the incident.

Video footage from Washington’s Kennedy Centre shows the airline was on approach into the airport and reportedly moments from landing when a fireball briefly becomes visible. The aircraft reportedly split into several pieces which dropped into the Potomac River, which is said to be around 2.5 m deep at the wreckage site. Black box recorders have reportedly been found among the plane wreckage and overturned helicopter.

Rescue workers were seen climbing over parts of the commercial plane looking for survivors and remains, and there were reports of human remains and aircraft debris washing up on the Potomac River’s banks.

*additional reporting on the article by Martyn Wingrove