All passengers, crew in Washington DC plane crash believed to be dead, says official

No one is believed to have survived the air accident involving an American Airlines passenger aeroplane and a US Army helicopter near Washington DC.

All 64 persons in the American Airlines plane and three personnel in the Army helicopter are believed to be dead and the rescue operation has now turned into an operation aimed at finding remains of the deceased, said Washington fire and emergency services chief John Donnelly at a press conference.

“We are now at a point where we’re switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation. At this point, we don’t believe there are any survivors from this accident…I’m confident that we will do that, and that will take us a little bit of time, though. It may involve some more equipment,” said Donnelly.

On Wednesday evening, an American Airlines plane with 60 passengers and four crew members collided in the air with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter with three personnel. The American Airlines plane was approaching the Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, at the time of collision. It had taken off from Wichita, Kansas. Both the aircraft crashed into the Potomac river after the crash.

At the press conference, officials said that 28 bodies have been recovered so far.

Contrary to speculation started by Russian state media that the Army helicopter may have been carrying senior officials linked to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the US Army has said that the helicopter was on a routine training flight and no senior official was among the three personnel onboard.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the accident was “absolutely” preventable — echoing the claim of his boss Donald Trump. He further said that the flight paths of the American Airlines plane and the Army helicopter were “not unusual for what happens in the DC airspace” and “everything was standard in the lead-up to the crash”. He added that there was no breakdown of communication between the Army helicopter, the passenger plane, and the air traffic control tower.

The Washington area is experiencing severe cold temperatures at the moment. Fire and emergency services chief Donnelly said responders were dealing with “extremely frigid conditions” involving “heavy wind” and frozen river. Observers have pointed out that the coldness of the water may have ruled out chance of anyone’s survival.

“Multiple factors, including body type, can influence survival rates in cold water. On average, without protective clothing, the cold water temperatures of the Potomac river would likely cause water shock and hypothermia, resulting in an expected survival time of only about 30 to 90 minutes,” noted Judson Jones of The New York Times.

The accident over the Potomac river is the deadliest aviation disaster in the United States in over two decades. On November, 2001, just two months after the Sept. 11 attacks, an American Airlines passenger plane crashed in New York, killing all 260 passengers and five persons on the ground. Even though there were initial suspicions that terrorism was involved, the investigation found no evidence of sabotage.

Even as rescuers were scouring the river earlier in the day, Trump fanned speculations on social media and blamed the pilots of the Army helicopter and the air traffic control of the airport for the accident.

“The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a clear night, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. Not good! (sic)” said Trump.