A search and rescue operation is below approach after a passenger aircraft and a navy helicopter crashed over a serious river in Washington DC.
The American Airways flight, with 60 passengers and 4 crew on board, was touchdown on the Ronald Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport when the mid-air collision passed off.
The US Military Black Hawk helicopter had three troopers on board.
Each plane fell into the Potomac River, after colliding round 9pm native time.
The passenger aircraft was moments away from touchdown, having departed from Wichita, Kansas, whereas the navy helicopter was on a coaching flight.
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Pic: Getty
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Emergency responders within the Potomac River. Pic: Andrew Harnik/Getty
US Determine Skating, the nationwide governing physique for the game within the US, mentioned in a press release that a number of members of its skating neighborhood had been on the passenger aircraft.
It mentioned the athletes and coaches had been returning residence from the nationwide growth camp in Kansas.
“We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts,” the assertion mentioned.
The married couple from Russia gained the world championship in pairs determine skating in 1994.
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Russia’s Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova competing in 1995. Pic: Reuters
‘Extraordinarily tough’ search situations
Round 300 responders, inflatable boats and a number of helicopters are getting used as a part of the search and rescue operation.
Washington DC hearth chief John Donnelly mentioned the operation is “highly complex” attributable to “extremely rough conditions”.
He mentioned hypothermia is a priority for any attainable survivors and first responders as it’s presently chilly and windy.
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Pic: Andrew Harnik/Getty
In a press release late on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump thanked first responders for his or her “incredible work”, and mentioned he was “monitoring the situation and will provide more details as they arise”.
He added: “May God Bless their souls.”
Vice chairman JD Vance additionally inspired followers on social media to “say a prayer for everyone involved”.
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‘I want you to land’ – audio from crash
Kansas senator Roger Marshall added: “When one person dies it’s a tragedy, but when many, many, many people die it’s an unbearable sorrow.”
The collision occurred in a number of the most tightly managed and monitored airspace on the earth, simply over three miles south of the White Home and the US Capitol.
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Hearth chief updates on rescue operation after crash
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) introduced the Ronald Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport can be closed till not less than 4pm UK time.
In audio from the air visitors management tower across the time of the crash, a controller is heard asking the helicopter: “PAT25 do you have the CRJ in sight”, in reference to the passenger plane.
“Tower, did you see that?” one other pilot is heard saying seconds after the obvious collision.
The US military and the defence division has begun an investigation into the crash.
Pete Hegseth, who was sworn in as defence secretary solely days in the past, mentioned it had been began “immediately”.
The final main crash involving a business aircraft within the US was in 2009, when all 49 individuals aboard a Colgan Air flight died when it crashed in New York state.
