MOSCOW: An airplane carrying 64 people on board collided with a military helicopter carrying at least three crew members midair over Wash...
MOSCOW: An airplane carrying 64 people on board collided with a military helicopter carrying at least three crew members midair over Washington.
TASS has gathered the main facts about the deadly accident.
Circumstances behind emergency
- The US Federal Aviation Administration reported that a Bombardier CRJ700 passenger plane was involved in a midair collision with a Black Hawk military helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
- The American Airlines regional flight had departed from Kansas with 60 passengers and four crew members aboard.
- At least three soldiers were in the helicopter.
- The wreckage of the aircraft plunged into the Potomac River.
- Rescuers and divers continue to search for possible survivors.
- Dive teams combed through the site and recovered one of the flight recorders from the crashed plane, CBS News reported.
- The helicopter crew informed the dispatcher that the plane was within their field of vision, the Associated Press reported, citing recorded transmissions.
Casualties
- US officials have not disclosed any information about potential survivors, the Crisis Management Center of the Russian Foreign Ministry stated.
- American figure skaters and coaches were among the passengers, according to The Wichita Eagle.
- Russian figure skaters and other citizens were also on the flight, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed.
- Russia's 1994 world champions in figure skating, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, along with Inna Volyanskaya, a bronze medalist at the 1980 USSR Championships, were listed among the passengers, a source told TASS.
Authorities' response
- US President Donald Trump described the incident as a "bad situation", stating that the "terrible" crash "should have been prevented."
- Search and rescue operations remain underway, and an investigation was immediately launched by the US Army and the Department of Defense, according to Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth.
- There is no evidence of criminal activity or terrorism, NBC News quoted a senior FBI official as saying.
- US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said the agency would deploy the Coast Guard to assist in search and rescue missions.
-News Feed
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