Following the nation’s first major commercial airline crash since 2009, dive teams have ended their search in the Potomac River after recovering all possible bodies without moving the submerged fuselage, sources familiar with the operation confirmed.
The fatal collision occurred Wednesday night when a regional American Airlines passenger jet and a Black Hawk military helicopter crashed midair over Washington, D.C.
Investigators have recovered the American Airlines plane’s flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder—commonly known as black boxes—which are now being transported to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) lab for analysis, a source with direct knowledge said.
So far, approximately 40 bodies have been recovered, including at least one soldier from the Black Hawk helicopter according to news reports. Additional remains will need to be extracted once the wreckage is lifted from the river.
Recovery crews anticipate that some victims may never be found due to the intense fireball caused by the collision, officials said.
President Donald Trump confirmed Thursday morning that there were no survivors, calling the crash a “tragedy of terrible proportions.”
“Our hearts are shattered,” Trump said in a White House press briefing after holding a moment of silence. “Our prayers are with the families now and in the days to come.”
While the cause of the crash remains under investigation, Trump acknowledged that officials “have some pretty good ideas” about what led to the catastrophe.
Runway operations at the airport resumed at approximately 11 a.m. Thursday.
The American Airlines jet, operating as Flight 5342, carried 60 passengers and four Charlotte-based crew members. The aircraft, a Bombardier CRJ700 with a capacity of 70 passengers, had departed from Wichita, Kansas, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
At the time of the crash, conditions in the Potomac River were harsh, with water temperatures around 36 degrees and wind gusts reaching 25 to 30 mph.
The FAA and NTSB have launched an official investigation, with the NTSB taking the lead in determining the cause of the crash.
