Trump confirms 67 dead when a plane and a military helicopter collide in Washington DC

A plane collided this morning with a Black Hawk military helicopter over the Potomac River as it approached the runway at Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) in Washington. There were 60 passengers on the aircraft. and four crew members, as reported by American Airlines. Three soldiers were aboard the helicopteras detailed by sources from the United States Government (USA).

John Donnelly, chief of the District of Columbia Department of Fire and Emergency Services, announced in an early morning press conference that so far 28 bodies have been recovered from the waters of the Potomac River: 27 from the plane and one from the helicopter. Donald Trump has subsequently confirmed that there are no survivors.

The damaged plane was a Bombardier CRJ-700 and it crashed at 20:48 local time with a Skikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk, one of the most iconic helicopters of the US Army, which was carrying out a training flight. According to Sean Duffy, the Secretary of Transport, the night was clear and he has ruled out that either of the two devices were flying in an area that did not correspond to them. He added that “it is not at all unusual” that military helicopters coincide with aircraft for the transport of civilians in that airspace.

In a video captured by the security cameras of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, you can see how The helicopter approached the commercial planewhich had already begun approach maneuvers to the airport, until colliding with it, causing an explosion in the air. The remains of both devices fell into the icy waters of the Potomac River. At the moment the causes of the accident are unknown.

“We are concerned about the passengers and crew on board the aircraft. We are in contact with authorities and collaborating with emergency response efforts,” the statement said. American Eagle airlinea subsidiary of American Airlines, in a statement. He flight 5342 It was headed from Wichita, Kansas, to Washington, DC and was due to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport, which will remain closed until at least noon this Thursday.

According to Duffy, The fuselage of the plane has been found broken into three sections. while the helicopter is underwater in an upside down position, almost intact. Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas suggested at a press conference that most likely there will be no survivors. “When one person dies it is a tragedy, but when many die it is an unbearable pain,” he said.

The United States Skating Association has reported that “several members of our community,” including athletes, coaches and family members, were on board the crashed commercial plane. They were returning from a championship that was held last weekend in Wichita. The Russian news agency TASS has detailed that among them was a Russian couple, Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who were figure skating world champions in 1994 and were now dedicated to training young skaters, including his son Maxim, who is also believed to have been on the aircraft.

Some 300 members of emergency teams are working in the area, as reported by John Donnelly, head of the Department of Fire and Emergency Services of the US capital, who has assured that the tragedy was “absolutely” avoidable. “We will work to find all the bodies and reunite them with their loved ones,” he promised. The icy, murky waters of the Potomac Riveradded to the wind, complicate the search and rescue tasks of divers.

This is the first plane crash involving a commercial aircraft in the US since a regional flight crashed in Buffalo, New York, in 2009.

Trump criticism

American Airlines has made a toll-free telephone line available to family members of passengers on the flight to contact the company. However, Reuters reports that some relatives who have gone to the airport complain that the only information they have received is through the news. A woman has burst into tears at the airport because she does not know whether one of her relatives “was on board the aircraft or not.”

The tragedy is reminiscent of the one that occurred in 1982 when an Air Florida passenger plane left Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC, to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida. On that occasion The aircraft crashed on the 14th Street Bridge over the Potomac River and Of the 79 passengers on board, only 5 people survived..

The agency Efe reports that on the banks of the Potomac River – where the plane crashed – a strong device has been deployed that includes ambulances, fire trucks, police cars and helicopters. Likewise, public buses have been enabled to transport people.

The Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, indicated in X that they are deploying “all available US Coast Guard resources for search and rescue efforts” and stressed that they are “actively monitoring the situation” and that they are prepared to support local emergency personnel.

For his part, the American president, Donald Trumphas appreciated the work of the emergency personnel after the accident, but has criticized the control tower from the airport: “The night was CLEAR, the plane lights were on, why didn’t the helicopter go up, down or turn?” he wrote on his social network, Truth Social, adding that the accident “should have been avoided.” The White House has reported that the president is closely following the evolution of the tragedy.