'The helicopter and the plane crashed in the river': Audio from air traffic control describes disaster over Potomac
'The helicopter and the plane crashed in the river': Audio from air traffic control describes disaster over Potomac
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First responders are hunting for survivors of crash in frigid river. Air traffic control watched in horror on Wednesday night as a passenger jet and a U.S. military helicopter collided near Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington and plunged into the nearby Potomac River.
![[Rescue teams stage to help search the Potomac River]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/30/4/11/Crash-in-Washington-DC-18gh6b9d.jpeg)
Eyewitnesses described the crash creating an explosion visible in the night sky. Video from a camera at the nearby Kennedy Center appeared to show the aircraft colliding and creating a fireball. The White House said President Donald Trump had been briefed on the “terrible accident.”.
“May God Bless their souls,” Trump wrote in a statement, thanking first responders for their “incredible work.”. The crash involved two aircraft: American Eagle flight 5342, inbound from Wichita, Kansas, which was carrying 60 passengers and 4 crew, and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter with a crew of three.
No senior Army officials were aboard the helicopter when it crashed. Helicopters and divers searched the Potomac for survivors. The river was at near-freezing temperatures the day of the crash, according to the National Weather Service. There are fatalities from the crash, a law enforcement source told CNN, but the identities of the victims have not been made public, and rescuers have not reported finding any survivors yet.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash. The Army helicopter involved in the crash was conducting a routine training exercise, according to a spokesperson from the military’s Joint Task Force-National Capital Region.
