WASHINGTON: An American regional passenger jet and US Army Black Hawk helicopter and crashed into the frigid Potomac River after a midair collision near Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday night, reports revealed.
CBS News reported that at least 19 bodies had been recovered so far, a police official reported adding that multiple bodies had been fished out of the water.
American Airlines confirmed that 64 people were on board the jet: 60 passengers and four crew members. Three soldiers were aboard the helicopter, a US official said.
Relatives gathered at the airport said they were getting little to no information from officials about the incident, adding that they were hearing more about the incident from news reports.
One woman told an airport official, “I don’t know if she got on there or not,” in apparent reference to a passenger on the crashed jet. She then collapsed in tears.
The US Army said in a statement that it could “confirm that the aircraft involved in tonight’s incident was an Army UH-60 helicopter out of Fort Belvoir, Virginia.”
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