WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — President Donald Trump is scheduled to hold a briefing at the White House at 11 a.m. EST concerning the deadly collision between an American Airlines plane and military helicopter over the Potomac River.
Just after midnight on Wednesday, Jan. 29, Trump released a statement on X,
I have 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. I am monitoring the situation and will provide more details as
they arise.”
On Wednesday night, the American Airlines plane, Flight 5342 was getting ready to land at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) when it collided with the United States Army UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter.
Flight 5342 departed from Wichita, Kansas, and was carrying 60 passengers along with four crew members. Three soldiers were onboard the army helicopter.
During a press conference on Thursday morning, officials confirmed that at least 27 bodies had been pulled from the icy Potomac River, where the plane was found inverted in three sections. Officials believed that there were no survivors, which would make the crash the deadliest U.S. air crash in nearly 24 years.
Among those presumed to be dead are figure skaters and coaches, who were traveling home from the National Development Camp held in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Championship in Kansas, Nexstar’s WDCW reported.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov further confirmed that Russian figure skaters Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who won the pairs title at the 1994 World Championships and competed at the Winter Olympics twice, were passengers.
The crash remains under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration, National Transportation Safety Board and the United States Army.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
