DC plane crash updates: Remains of 55 victims recovered and positively identified

All 67 people on board the plane and the helicopter were killed.

ByIvan Pereira, Meredith Deliso, and Emily Shapiro
Last Updated: February 2, 2025, 4:59 PM EST

An American Airlines regional jet went down in the Potomac River near Washington, D.C.'s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport after colliding with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, with no survivors.

Sixty-four people were on board the plane, which departed from Wichita, Kansas. Three soldiers were on the helicopter.

The collision happened around 9 p.m. when the PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet was on approach to the airport.

Map of the area around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the layout of Runway 33, which the regional American Airlines jet was approaching at the time of the collision with the Army Black Hawk helicopter, according to officials.
ABC News, Google Earth, Flightradar24, ADS-B Exchange

Key Headlines

Here's how the news is developing.
Jan 30, 2025, 7:44 AM EST

No survivors expected

No survivors are expected from the plane crash, D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said.

Crews are switching to a recovery operation.

Twenty-eight bodies have been recovered, including 27 from the plane and one from the Black Hawk helicopter, Donnelly said.

Part of the wreckage is seen as rescue boats search the waters of the Potomac River after a plane on approach to Reagan National Airport crashed into the river outside Washington, DC, on January 30, 2025.
Andrew Caballero-reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

Sixty-four people were on the plane and three were on the military helicopter.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said it was a clear night and the helicopter was in a "standard flight pattern," as was the plane.

The plane fuselage was found "inverted" and in three different sections in waist-deep water.

Jan 30, 2025, 7:41 AM EST

NTSB leading investigation of mid-air collision: Official

The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation of the deadly mid-air collision of American Airlines Flight 5342 and an Army Blackhawk helicopter, according to a statement from Joint Task Force-National Capital Region.

Ron McLendon II, a spokesperson for the Joint Task Force-National Capital Region, said the U.S. Army and the Federal Aviation Administration will assist with the investigation.

"The NTSB will lead the investigation. We are working with local officials and will provide any additional information once it becomes available," McLendon said.

-ABC News' Matt Seyler

Jan 30, 2025, 7:19 AM EST

Source describes a gruesome scene emerging in search for survivors

A source briefed on the search-and-rescue operation described a gruesome scene with large numbers of bodies recovered.

Sadly the source had no information on any survivors. But he emphasized that there has been a desperate attempt to find victims alive.

-ABC News' Pierre Thomas

Jan 30, 2025, 5:18 AM EST

2 Russian figure skaters on board plane that crashed

Russian media reported that two Russian figure skaters were on board the American Airlines flight that collided with an Army helicopter outside D.C. and a presidential spokesman expressed condolences to the families and friends of those killed in the plane crash.

"There were other of our fellow citizens there. Bad news from Washington today," Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday morning.

Earlier, several Russian state media outlets reported that the 1994 world figure skating champions in pairs, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, were on board the plane, though U.S. authorities have not confirmed these reports.

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