WASHINGTON: An American Airlines regional passenger jet and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed into the Potomac River after a midair collision near Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday night, officials said.
The Washington Post said multiple bodies had been pulled from the water. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said on social media that “we know there are fatalities,” though he did not say how many.
An American Airlines source told Reuters that 60 passengers, along with two pilots and two crew members were scheduled to be on the flight. Three soldiers were aboard the helicopter, a US official said.
There has not been a fatal US passenger airplane accident since February 2009, but a series of near-miss incidents in recent years have raised serious safety concerns.
NBC reported that four people had been pulled alive from the Potomac River.
A web camera shot from the Kennedy Center in Washington showed an explosion mid-air across the Potomac around 2047 ET with an aircraft in flames crashing down rapidly.
The US Federal Aviation Administration said a PSA Airlines regional jet collided midair with the helicopter while on approach to Reagan.
PSA was operating Flight 5342 for American Airlines, which had departed from Wichita, Kansas, according to the FAA.
Police said multiple agencies were involved in a search and rescue operation in the Potomac River, which borders the airport.
Dozens of police, ambulance and recuse units, some ferrying boats, staged along the river and raced to positions along the tarmac of Reagan airport. Live TV images showed several boats in the water, flashing blue and red lights.
The airport said late on Wednesday that all takeoffs and landings had been halted as emergency personnel responded to an aircraft incident.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it was gathering more information on the incident.
American Airlines said on social media that it was “aware of reports that American Eagle flight 5342, operated by PSA, with service from Wichita, Kansas (ICT) to Washington Reagan National Airport (DCA) has been involved in an incident.”
American Airlines said it would provide more information as it became available to the company.
Over the last two years, a series of near-miss incidents have raised concerns about US aviation safety and the strain on understaffed air-traffic-control operations.
FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker stepped down on Jan. 20 and the Trump administration has not named a replacement — or even disclosed who is running the agency on an interim basis.
The last deadly major crash involving a commercial airliner in the US was in 2009, when 49 people aboard a Colgan Air flight crashed in New York state. One person also died on the ground.
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American Airlines jet collides with helicopter near Washington’s Reagan Airport
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American Airlines jet collides with helicopter near Washington’s Reagan Airport
- A web camera shot from Kennedy Center in Washington showed an explosion mid-air across the Potomac around 2047 ET with an aircraft in flames crashing down rapidly
- There has not been a fatal US passenger airplane accident since February 2009, but a series of near-miss incidents in recent years have raised serious safety concerns
Russia pledges support for Venezuela against US ‘hostilities’
- Russian foreign minister expresses 'solidarity with the Venezuelan leadership and people'
- US has seized two oil tankers linked to the country and is pursuing a third
CARACUS: Russia on Monday expressed “full support” for Venezuela as the South American country confronts a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers by US forces deployed in the Caribbean.
The pledge from Moscow, itself embroiled in the war in Ukraine, came on the eve of a UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting Tuesday to discuss the mounting crisis between Caracas and Washington.
In a phone call, the foreign ministers of the allied nations blasted the US actions, which have included strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats and more recently the seizure of two oil tankers.
A third ship was being pursued, a US official told AFP on Sunday.
“The ministers expressed their deep concern over the escalation of Washington’s actions in the Caribbean Sea, which could have serious consequences for the region and threaten international shipping,” the Russian foreign ministry said of the call between Sergei Lavrov and Venezuelan counterpart Yvan Gil.
“The Russian side reaffirmed its full support for and solidarity with the Venezuelan leadership and people in the current context,” it added in a statement.
US forces have since September launched strikes on boats that Washington claims, without providing evidence, were trafficking drugs in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean.
More than 100 people have been killed — some of them fishermen, according to their families and governments.
US President Donald Trump on December 16 also announced a blockade of “sanctioned oil vessels” sailing to and from Venezuela.
Trump claims Caracas under President Nicolas Maduro is using oil money to finance “drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder and kidnapping.”
He has also accused Venezuela of taking “all of our oil” — in an apparent reference to the country’s nationalization of the petroleum sector, and said: “we want it back.”
Caracas, in turn, fears Washington is seeking regime change, and has accused Washington of “international piracy.”
Moscow’s statement said Lavrov and Gil agreed in their call to “coordinate their actions on the international stage, particularly at the UN, in order to ensure respect for state sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs.”
Russia and China, another Venezuela ally, backed Caracas’s request for a UNSC meeting to discuss what it called “the ongoing US aggression.”
- Russia’s ‘hands full’ -
On Telegram, Venezuela’s Gil said he and Lavrov had discussed “the aggressions and flagrant violations of international law being perpetrated in the Caribbean: attacks on vessels, extrajudicial executions, and illicit acts of piracy carried out by the United States government.”
Gil said Lavrov had affirmed Moscow’s “full support in the face of hostilities against our country.”
Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio brushed aside Moscow’s stated support for Caracas.
Washington, he said, was “not concerned about an escalation with Russia with regards to Venezuela” as “they have their hands full in Ukraine.”
US-Russia relations have soured in recent weeks as Trump has voiced frustration with Moscow over the lack of a resolution to the Ukraine war.
Gil on Monday also read a letter on state TV, signed by Maduro and addressed to UN member nations, warning the US blockade “will affect the supply of oil and energy” globally.
The pledge from Moscow, itself embroiled in the war in Ukraine, came on the eve of a UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting Tuesday to discuss the mounting crisis between Caracas and Washington.
In a phone call, the foreign ministers of the allied nations blasted the US actions, which have included strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats and more recently the seizure of two oil tankers.
A third ship was being pursued, a US official told AFP on Sunday.
“The ministers expressed their deep concern over the escalation of Washington’s actions in the Caribbean Sea, which could have serious consequences for the region and threaten international shipping,” the Russian foreign ministry said of the call between Sergei Lavrov and Venezuelan counterpart Yvan Gil.
“The Russian side reaffirmed its full support for and solidarity with the Venezuelan leadership and people in the current context,” it added in a statement.
US forces have since September launched strikes on boats that Washington claims, without providing evidence, were trafficking drugs in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean.
More than 100 people have been killed — some of them fishermen, according to their families and governments.
US President Donald Trump on December 16 also announced a blockade of “sanctioned oil vessels” sailing to and from Venezuela.
Trump claims Caracas under President Nicolas Maduro is using oil money to finance “drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder and kidnapping.”
He has also accused Venezuela of taking “all of our oil” — in an apparent reference to the country’s nationalization of the petroleum sector, and said: “we want it back.”
Caracas, in turn, fears Washington is seeking regime change, and has accused Washington of “international piracy.”
Moscow’s statement said Lavrov and Gil agreed in their call to “coordinate their actions on the international stage, particularly at the UN, in order to ensure respect for state sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs.”
Russia and China, another Venezuela ally, backed Caracas’s request for a UNSC meeting to discuss what it called “the ongoing US aggression.”
- Russia’s ‘hands full’ -
On Telegram, Venezuela’s Gil said he and Lavrov had discussed “the aggressions and flagrant violations of international law being perpetrated in the Caribbean: attacks on vessels, extrajudicial executions, and illicit acts of piracy carried out by the United States government.”
Gil said Lavrov had affirmed Moscow’s “full support in the face of hostilities against our country.”
Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio brushed aside Moscow’s stated support for Caracas.
Washington, he said, was “not concerned about an escalation with Russia with regards to Venezuela” as “they have their hands full in Ukraine.”
US-Russia relations have soured in recent weeks as Trump has voiced frustration with Moscow over the lack of a resolution to the Ukraine war.
Gil on Monday also read a letter on state TV, signed by Maduro and addressed to UN member nations, warning the US blockade “will affect the supply of oil and energy” globally.
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