Emergency Response Units
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A tragic aviation accident occurred on Wednesday night involving a US passenger plane and a military helicopter over Washington, DC.
The incident resulted in the plane, which was carrying 64 individuals, crashing into the frigid waters of the Potomac River. This collision prompted an extensive emergency response and led to the grounding of all flights at Reagan National Airport. The flight, operated by PSA Airlines, a subsidiary of American Airlines, had taken off from Wichita, Kansas, and was on its final approach to Reagan National when it collided with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter conducting a training exercise.
The helicopter was manned by three soldiers, whose current status remains unknown. Washington's police department is coordinating the ongoing rescue efforts, though details regarding casualties have not yet been confirmed. Eyewitnesses, however, report seeing multiple bodies recovered from the water amid search operations carried out by divers braving near-freezing conditions.
One eyewitness describes the scene as he drove home, recalling a "stream of sparks" and a flash resembling a firework during the midair collision. He notes that the plane appeared stable before it suddenly banked sharply to the right, trailing bright sparks beneath it. In an official statement, President Donald Trump has expressed his condolences to the victims' families and criticised the actions of air traffic control and the helicopter crew, emphasizing that the passenger plane was on a routine approach.
He expresses concern regarding the helicopter's inability to avoid the collision. In the aftermath of the accident, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) halted all operations at Reagan National Airport. Multiple agencies, including the US Coast Guard, were deployed to assist with search and rescue operations, which are complicated by difficult conditions.
The crash inevitably recalls past aviation tragedies, such as the 1982 Air Florida Flight 90 disaster, which resulted in 78 fatalities when a plane struck a bridge and plunged into the Potomac.