Accident between a regional plane and a military helicopter in the night on the Potomac river, on the skies of Washington, one of the busiest and most supervised air areas in the world, a few kilometers from the White House, the Capitol and the Pentagon.
Contrary to what was initially reported by some American media, at the moment There are no survivors in the airplaneing in Washington, while the difficult rescue operations continue. Two sources of the police and a source aware of the situation referred to the CNN that No survivors have yet been recovered, while the authorities fear that the accident can be the most fatal plane disaster in Washington For decades. “We don’t know yet” if they survived “but we’re working,” the head of the firefighters John A. Donnelly said this morning.
The emergency teams recovered more than 30 bodies from the water after the accident reported two sources aware of the research operations to the local station NBC4. And while the search for victims and possible continuous survivors, human remains and debris are dragged On the side of the Virginia of the Potomac river, reports the correspondent of CBS News, testifying to the macabre aspect of the tragedy.
Also on board the former Russian artistic skaters Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, world champions in 1994The spokesman for the Kremlin Dmitry Peskov confirms this according to the Russian agencies report.
Peskov added that for now there are no plans to organize a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the President of the United States Donald Trump. “There are no plans for top contacts so far,” he said, answering the questions of journalists. “We regret and offer our condolences to relatives and friends who have lost their relatives,” added Peskov.
The American skater John Maravilla instead escaped the plane crash on the Potomac thanks to his dog. The sportsman told the Russian Agency Ria Novosti that he was not allowed to embark on the flight from Wichita – where the American skating skating championships were held from 21 to 26 January – in Washington because he was traveling with his dog. “The check-in officer told me that my dog was too big to take him on board, so we decided to travel by car,” said Maravilla. It was the same athlete who said to Ria Novosti that on the plane There were at least 14 athletes, including several members of the US community of artistic skating. “We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and we keep the families of the victims in our hearts,” says a declaration of the US Figure Skating reported by the Washington Post.
The plane has broken in several pieces and is now located at 1.5-2.5 meters deep, according to the authorities from CBS News and relaunched by BBC. The team of divers, who had access to the cabin, now also has Found what seems to be one of the two black boxes. Among the objects recovered so far there are also luggage, the CBS still reports, according to which the helicopter is turned upside down but seems to be mostly intact.
The flight of the tragedy is the American Eagle 5342, operated by PSA Airlines with a CRJ-700 Jet on behalf of American Airlines. He had started practically full from Wichita, Kansas, and was headed to the Ronald Reagan airport, the smallest and closest of the two airports in the capital, which was closed after the accident and all the flights were diverted.