No survivors are expected from the crash involving a passenger plane carrying 64 people and a military helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA), DC Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly Sr. said on Thursday morning.
American Eagle Flight 5342, operated by PSA Airlines, a subsidiary of American Airlines, was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members while making an approach to land at Reagan Airport in Crystal City, Virginia, about five miles from Washington.
The plane had departed from Wichita, Kansas.
“At this point, we don’t believe there are any survivors from this accident, and we have recovered 27 people from the plane,” Donnelly said in a briefing on Thursday morning.
“PAT25, do you have a CRJ in sight? PAT25, pass behind the CRJ,” an air traffic controller said at 8.47 p.m. on Wednesday.
Seconds later, another aircraft called in to air traffic control, saying, “Tower, did you see that?”
Air traffic control then redirected planes heading to runway 33 at Reagan Washington National Airport to go around.
“Crash, crash, crash, this is an alert three,” one of the air traffic controllers can be heard saying in the audio from around the time of the crash.
“I don’t know if you caught earlier what happened, but there was a collision on the approach into 33. We’re going to be shutting down operations for the indefinite future,” another controller said.
“Both the helicopter and the plane crashed in the river,” a third air traffic controller stated.
“It was probably out in the middle of the river,” the controller added. “I just saw a fireball and then it was just gone. I haven’t seen anything since they hit the river. But it was a CRJ and a helicopter that hit.”
Reports of some who were aboard the passenger plane have already begun to emerge.
U.S. Figure Skating issued a statement early on Thursday morning saying that “several members of our skating community were sadly aboard American Airlines Flight 5342.”
The organization said that they were devastated by the “unspeakable tragedy.”
“These athletes, coaches, and family members were returning home from the National Development Camp held in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas,” it said in a statement.
Coaches Evgenia Shishkova, 53, and Vadim Naumov, 56, won the world championship in 1994.
President Donald Trump said in a statement on Wednesday that he has been “fully briefed on the terrible accident which just took place at Reagan National Airport.”
“May God Bless their souls. Thank you for the incredible work being done by our first responders,” Trump said. “I am monitoring the situation and will provide more details as they arise.”
