US President Donald Trump on Thursday confirmed there were no survivors after a military helicopter collided midair with a passenger plane carrying 64 people.
“I speak to you this morning in an hour of anguish for our nation,” Trump said at the White House after the crash in Washington.
“The work has now shifted to a recovery mission. Sadly, there are no survivors. This was a dark and excruciating night in our nation’s capital.”
Earlier, Washington Fire Chief John Donnelly told a news conference at Reagan National Airport: “We are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation.”
“At this point we don’t believe there are any survivors,” Donnelly said, adding that 28 bodies had been recovered — including one from the helicopter.
As dawn broke over the crash site, emergency vessels with powerful arc lights and inflatables with diving teams could be seen moving back and forth over a wide river area.
Donnelly said 300 first responders had been involved in the operation — most of it in pitch darkness.
“These responders found extremely frigid conditions, they found heavy wind, they found ice on the water, and they operated all night in those conditions,” he said.
There were no details on the cause of the crash, with transport officials saying both aircraft were on standard flight patterns on a clear night with good visibility.
“Do I think this was preventable? Absolutely,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told the news conference.
