No Survivors Feared After Military Helicopter Strikes Plane Midair, Crashing Into Potomac River Near D.C.

Emergency response units assess airplane wreckage in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington Airport on January 30, 2025, in Arlington, Virginia. | Source: Andrew Harnik / Getty
Officials feared there would be no survivors after a Black Hawk military helicopter collided in midair with a plane around 9 p.m. on Wednesday night right outside of Washington, D.C. Nearly 70 people total were aboard both aircraft.
American Airlines Flight 5342, a PSA Airlines plane that departed from Kansas, collided with the helicopter in midair, leading to both aircraft landing into the Potomac River. Footage from the nearby Kennedy Center captured the incident, where two sets of lights appeared to merge, resulting in an explosion in the distance.
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While bodies have been recovered, D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John A. Donnelly said Thursday morning that he didn’t “believe” there were any survivors:
“Despite all those efforts we are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation. At this point, we don’t believe there are any survivors from this accident. We have recovered 27 people from from the plane and one from the helicopter. The District Office of the Medical Examiner has lead on reuniting these bodies and these people with their loved ones. And we will continue to work to find all the bodies and collect them and reunite them with their loved ones. We should also acknowledge that the Virginia Medical Examiner and the Army Medical Examiner are involved in this operation and a very important part of getting people identified.”
Previously, Donnelly suggested that conditions in the Potomac River could affect rescue and recovery efforts.
“The water is dark. It is murky,” Donnelly said.
The Associated Press reported that Russian figure skaters and other Russian nationals were identified by the Kremlin as having been passengers aboard the plane.
Other figure skaters and their coaches and family members were also on the flight after having participated in a camp following the recent national U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita last week.
Family members of other passengers were interviewed by reporters at Reagan National Airport, anxiously awaiting updates about their loved ones.
On Wednesday night, Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall said of the crash: “When one person dies it’s a tragedy, but when many, many, many people die it’s an unbearable sorrow.”
Sen. Roger Marshall: “When many, many, many people die, it’s an unbearable sorrow. … It is such a tragedy that we lost them.”
Search and rescue officials have not confirmed deaths at this news conference on the plane-helicopter crash, although there are reportedly fatalities. pic.twitter.com/3AU07kt96f
— The Recount (@therecount) January 30, 2025
“PSA was operating as Flight 5342 for American Airlines,” FAA said in a statement. “It departed from Wichita, Kansas.”
American Airlines confirmed the plane had 60 passengers and four crew onboard. The Black Hawk helicopter was carrying three soldiers at the time of the crash.
Fire rescue boats and a Metropolitan Police Department helicopter responded immediately to the scene, according to wtop.com.
President Donald Trump was briefed about the crash. Newly sworn-in Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was reportedly monitoring developments from the scene at the FAA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Investigators are working to determine the cause of the collision and subsequent crash.
The collision and subsequent crash caused aircraft traffic to be halted at Ronald Reagan National Airport.
The airport was expected to resume flights later on Thursday, according to the Federal Aviation Agency.
This is a developing story that will be updated as additional information becomes available.
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