A passenger aircraft and a navy helicopter collided mid-air close to Ronald Reagan National Airport, prompting a chief emergency reaction and the suspension of all airport operations.
According to Al Jazeera, the incident befell around nine p.m. on Wednesday, as suggested with the aid of the Federal Aviation Administration.
The plane concerned has been a PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700, working as an American Airlines flight, and a US Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter.
The passenger aircraft changed into wearing 60 passengers and 4 team members, even as the navy helicopter had 3 employees on board.
Al Jazeera suggested a “substantial reaction” on the scene, which included emergency cars and boats.
“This is the principal neighborhood airport serving the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. We consider that each plane is inside the river, which is of substantial concern. We have been instructed that, at best, a person may want to continue to exist for approximately an hour and a 1/2 of on this water.”
Authorities have now no longer supplied professional statistics on casualties.
Video pictures shared on social media seem to expose the instant of impact, observed with the aid of using an explosion.
Reports imply that an air site visitors controller had advised the helicopter to skip in the back of the upcoming plane moments earlier than the collision.
Government officials, which include President Donald Trump and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, had been briefed on the situation.
Trump said that he had been “completely briefed” at the “horrible accident”.
Senator Ted Cruz showed fatalities however now no longer offered precise numbers.
The FAA introduced that Ronald Reagan National Airport might stay closed till as a minimum of five a.m. on Friday.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Department of Defence have released research into the motive of the crash.
If shown, this will be the first deadly incident regarding a US business airline considering 2009, when Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashed in Buffalo, New York, resulting in forty-nine fatalities.
Ronald Reagan National Airport is the nearest airport to Washington, DC, and a key hub for home travel.
