A passenger plane carrying 64 people has collided midair with a military helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, DC.
The PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 jet collided with a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter at around 9pm on Wednesday (02:00 GMT Thursday), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.
American Airlines confirmed there were 60 passengers and four crew members on board the aircraft. The US army confirmed that its helicopter was carrying three personnel.
There was no immediate word on casualties from officials who held a press conference on Thursday at the airport, though Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas painted a bleak picture.
“When one person dies it’s a tragedy, but when many, many, many people die it’s an unbearable sorrow” he said.
Muriel Bowser, the Mayor of Washington DC, said multiple fire and police agencies from across the Washington region were involved in a search and rescue operation in the Potomac River, where the aircraft and the helicopter reportedly both crashed after their collision.
Washington fire chief John Donnelly told reporters that conditions were “extremely rough” for the roughly 300 responders working on the rescue operation, with high winds, low night-time visibility, cold weather and murky water.
“We’re operating under a unified command. Everybody’s together,” he said.
All takeoffs and landings from the airport have been halted. Inflatable rescue boats were launched into the Potomac River and first responders set up light towers from the shore to illuminate the area near the site of the collision.
The FAA said the airport would be closed until at least 5am on Friday.
Al Jazeera’s Shihab Rattansi, reporting from Washington, DC, said there was an “enormous response” at the scene of the crash, including emergency vehicles and boats.
“This is the main local airport serving the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. We believe that both of those aircraft are in the river. So that is of enormous concern now. We’re told that at best, someone could survive about an hour and a half in this water.”
Video posted on social media appeared to show the two aircraft collide and explode into flames.
The Associated Press reported that an air traffic controller had asked the helicopter if it had the arriving plane in sight less than 30 seconds before the crash, telling it to “pass behind”. Flight tracking sites did not record any response from the helicopter.
US President Donald Trump said he had been “fully briefed” on the “terrible accident”.
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said on X that the US Army and Department of Defence had immediately launched an investigation.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz said “we know there are fatalities”, without elaborating on the number or the source of his information.
If the fatalities are confirmed, the crash would be the first deadly incident involving a US commercial airline since 2009, when Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashed in Buffalo, New York, killing all 49 people on board.
Ronald Reagan Washington national airport, located in Arlington, Virginia, is the closest airport to Washington, DC, lying less than five miles from the US capital.
The airport is popular with many travellers because of its proximity to Washington, DC compared to Dulles International Airport, which is located about 23 miles further away.
