By spiritofamerica @ Adobe Stock
Efforts are underway in Washington, D.C. to recover the bodies of the dead following a tragic midair collision over Washington, D.C. last night. Perry Chiaramonte reports in The New York Sun:
The devastating mid-air collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army Blackhawk helicopter has left recovery teams scrambling to locate the bodies of all 67 people believed to have been killed in the grim crash.
“We are at a point where this has gone from a rescue operation to a recovery operation,” John Donnelly, Chief of Washington, DC Fire Department and Emergency Services said during an early morning press conference at Reagan National Airport. “At this point, we don’t believe there are any survivors.”
A large recovery operation was conducted through the night to recover the bodies of those aboard the American Airlines flight. A total of 28 bodies have been pulled from the river by sunrise on Thursday morning. The search for the remaining bodies continue.
“I’m confident that we will do that, and that will take us a little bit of time, though. It may involve some more equipment,” Chief Donnelly said, adding that the National Transportation Safety Board would be taking the lead on operations.
Reagan National Airport has been shuttered since last night’s collision but is scheduled to reopen and resume flights by 11 a.m.
“It’s safe. We’ve worked with all of the federal agencies, FAA, and it’s been determined we can open that airport safely. The recovery effort that’s on our property is on the waterfront,” Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority CEO Jack Potter said during the press conference. “The primary runway, 1/19, will be open. It’s away from any activity. “We’re going to have a secure area around that, so all are comfortable that we can get back to operations.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that both the Jet and the military helicopter were on a “standard flight pattern” and that it was not usual for the army aircraft to be in the airspace.
“This was a clear night last night; the helicopter was in the standard pattern. If you live in the DC area, you will see helicopters up and down the river,” he said during a news conference. “The American Airline flight coming into land was in a standard flight pattern as it was coming into DCA, so this was not unusual with a military aircraft flying the river and aircraft landing at DCA.”It was not immediately clear how or why the collision took place.
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