Gutwrenching DC plane crash countdown with only 12 HOURS to find bodies

SEARCH teams are set to face a gruelling mission as they try to recover all the bodies from the crash between an American Airlines plane and a military helicopter in Washington DC.

Fire and emergency services personnel have warned weather conditions are already “extremely rough,” with more severe weather expected in just hours.

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A frantic search effort is on to find the victims on board the American Airlines plane that plunged into the Potomac River.Credit: AP

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Crews are searching the waters near Reagan airportCredit: Getty

On Wednesday, an American Airlines jet that was landing into Reagan national airport collided with a Black Hawk helicopter that had three people on board.

All 64 people on board the passenger plane are feared to have died as it plunged into the icy Potomac River just before 9pm.

The collision happened despite the fact it was a clear night.

The air disaster is set to be the deadliest crash since 2009. A Colgan Air plane crashed into a house in Buffalo, New York, killing 45 people.

In the 12 hours since the crash, no survivors have been pulled from the water.

And, the operation has now turned into a recovery mission.

Washington DC has been impacted by a cold snap and temperatures could only reach highs of 51F on Thursday.

But, the mercury was hovering around 35F at the time of the crash.

Experts have warned that humans without sufficient layers of protection will only remain conscious for minutes in the freezing waters.

“At these frigid water temperatures, the human body’s core temperature quickly drops,” AccuWeather Senior Director of Forecast Operations Dan DePodwin told Reuters.

Training mishap, tech failure or human error: Tragic scenarios that may explain DC jet crash…& horrors passengers faced

“Exhaustion or unconsciousness can occur in as little as 15 to 30 minutes.”

Hours after the crash, John Donnelly of the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department offered insight into the conditions facing search and rescue crews.

He said the rescue mission was highly complex, and conditions were “extremely rough” for responders.

“It’s cold, they’re dealing with relatively windy conditions,” he said.

“Wind is hard out there on the river.”

Conditions are unlikely to improve with temperatures set to remain low today and rain is forecast for the evening.

There could be gusts as high as 18 miles per hour.

Rescue teams have only about 12 hours before conditions deteriorate.

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A cop combing the banks of the Potomac looking for debrisCredit: EPA

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Live shots show a helicopter flying overhead near the wreckageCredit: Getty

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Part of the wreckage seen in the riverCredit: AFP

Temperatures are set to plunge to lows of 44F by 9pm local time this evening.

But, on Friday, light rain will hit Washington DC and temperatures will struggle to exceed 53F.

The doomed American Airlines jet left Wichita, Kansas, just after 5:15pm ET on Wednesday en route to the nation’s capital.

Just moments before landing, it collided with a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter.

The copter was on a training mission at the time of the accident.

Chilling audio captured the moment an air traffic controller asked those on board the helicopter if they could see the twin-engine Bombardier CRJ700 aircraft.

The Bombardier CRJ700 seats up to 78 passengers.

How common are domestic flights in the US?

by Georgie English, Foreign News Reporter.

EVERY single day the Federal Aviation Administration oversees 45,000 flights with almost three million passengers on board

This covers a huge 29 million square miles of airspace from all over the US.

At peak times, up to 5,400 aircraft can be in the sky at any moment, creating a mammoth task for aviation experts and air traffic controllers to maintain safety among them.

This means that any wrong call or misstep from either flight crew or controllers can result in a fatal tragedy.

A shortage of air traffic controllers has caused delayed flights and raised a number of safety concerns.

Washington DC’s airspace, in particular, is extremely busy at peak times.

In recent years, Reagan National Airport has seen several close calls, including a near-collision between an American Airlines jet and a small plane in May 2024.

A similar near catastrophe almost occurred a month earlier between a Southwest and JetBlue flight.

Reagan Airport also features much shorter takeoff and landing strips than many others, with over 90 percent of outgoing and incoming flights using the primary runway.

This makes it the busiest single runway in the US, with over 800 takeoffs and landings each day – or one every minute for much of the day.

PROBING THE CAUSE

Officials revealed the American Airlines plane split into pieces as it plunged into the water.

Sean Duffy, the Transportation Secretary, revealed the fuselage was found in waist-deep water.

The wreckage from the copter has been found.

Duffy and President Trump believe the accident was preventable.

The new Transportation Secretary has tried to assure Americans.

“I would just say that everyone who flies in American skies expects that we fly safely,” he said.

“That when you depart an airport, you get to your destination.

“That didn’t happen last night and I know that President Trump, his administration, the FAA, the DOT, we will not rest until we have answers for the families and for the flying public.

“You should be assured that when you fly, you’re safe.”

Pete Hegseth, the Defense Secretary, revealed the crew members on board the Black Hawk helicopter were wearing night vision goggles.

“It was a fairly experienced crew that was doing a required annual night evaluation,” he said in an X clip.

Details about the people on board the plane have started to emerge in the hours after the tragedy.

One person has been recovered from the helicopter.

Meanwhile, Russian figure skaters Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were on board the jet.

And, several US figure skaters were also passengers.

Hamaad Raza told the CBS affiliate WUSA-TV that his wife was on board the doomed jet.

He said he received a text message from her, which said the plane was only minutes from landing.

But, subsequent messages that he sent did not go through to her.

“That’s when I realized something was up,” he said.

Raza said his wife had flown to Wichita for work, but revealed she wasn’t comfortable flying.

The cause of the collision remains unknown.

But Robert Isom, the CEO of American Airlines, revealed it still remains a mystery why the military helicopter crashed into the plane.

He said the jet’s pilots were experienced.

The captain had worked for American Airlines for six years and the first officer two years.

Operations at Reagan National Airport were halted in the immediate aftermath of the crash but are set to resume at 11 am local time.

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An air traffic app pinpointed the moment the jet collided with the military helicopterCredit: SWNS

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Patrol units continue to comb the river on Thursday morningCredit: Getty

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The military helicopter involved was a UH-60 Black Hawk (stock)Credit: Getty

Image Credits and Reference: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/33102655/grueling-search-washington-dc-plane-crash-victims/

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