Search teams were able to recover the bodies of 67 people who went missing last week when a passenger plane collided with a military helicopter over Washington and both aircraft crashed into the icy waters of the Potomac River, authorities announced Tuesday.
In recent days, search teams have continued to search the icy waters of the river to recover all the victims of the worst air disaster in the United States since 2001. All 64 people on board the two planes – the 60 passengers and 4 crew members on the American Airlines subsidiary passenger plane, the 3-member crew of the military helicopter – were killed.
Various agencies involved in the investigations confirmed that the bodies of "the 67 victims of the mid-air collision" have now been located and recovered, adding that almost all of them, with only one exception, have been "identified" with absolute certainty.
"We stand with all our hearts by the side of the families of the victims," the statement states, expressing "determination to support them in this difficult period."
Search teams are now focused on "recovering the debris remaining in the Potomac River," they noted.
Operations to recover the wreckage of the two planes that crashed into the river, a short distance from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, began on Monday, while the search for the victims continued.
Five days after the crash, parts of the aircraft, particularly part of the fuselage, were recovered the day before yesterday.
The passenger plane's so-called black boxes are being analyzed by experts from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which aims to release a preliminary conclusion on the causes of the accident "within 30 days."
According to the New York Times, the control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport was understaffed on the night of the crash, January 29. Only one air traffic controller, instead of the two normally on duty, was directing the movement of planes and helicopters in the extremely busy sector of Washington airspace.
Source: KYPE
