A passenger plane fell on Wednesday (29.01.2025) to the Potomac River in Washington, after hitting the air with a military helicopter, the United States authorities announced.
It is a regional flight of the company PSA Airlines, which collided with a helicopter on Washington when it had to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport around 9pm (02h00 GMT).
According to the legislator Roger Marshall, senator of the Kansas state, the plane carried “about 60 passengers.” In an X message, Marshall described what happened as “a nightmare.”
The American Airlines company confirmed that 60 passengers and four crew members were traveling aboard the commercial plane, which covered Wichita Route, Kansas, to Washington.
Near midnight, the Police had recovered at least 18 bodies from the Potomac River, according to reports from the CBS News chain that quoted a police officer.
Trump attentive to events
In a statement President Donald Trump said that “the situation is closely followed.”
“I have been informed in detail about the terrible accident that has just happened (…) that God bless them,” said the Republican and thanked the emergency teams for their work.
A witness, Ari Schulman, said he was driving his way home when he saw “a jet of sparks” and something similar to fireworks when night collision occurred.
“At first I saw the plane and it seemed to be well, normal. I was about to take land,” he said.
For its part, Fox News reported that the plane is left in the river in two, as well as the helicopter, where three military, which is underwater upside down.
The outside temperature tonight in the area was about 4 degrees Celsius, so the possibility of surviving in the water would be around 20 minutes.
On the banks of the Potomac River a strong device that included ambulances, firefighters, police cars and helicopters with spotlights, as well as rescue boats were deployed.
Helicopter was from the army
Official sources confirmed to the CNN chain that the helicopter that crashed with the plane was from the US army. According to the same medium, the aircraft made a “training flight” when it hit the plane.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed that a regional plane crashed in the air with a helicopter while approaching the Reagan National Airport (DCA) of the US capital ..
“A regional Bombardier Crj700 aircraft from PSA Airlines crashed in the air with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter while approaching track 33 of the Reagan National Airport of Washington around 21:00 local time (02:00 GMT on Thursday ), local time.
Last update at 07:30 CET.
GS (AFP, Reuters, EFE, AP)
