Washington DC officials hold briefing as dozens feared dead after passenger jet collides with military helicopter – live | Washington DC plane crash

Washington DC officials hold briefing as dozens feared dead after passenger jet collides with military helicopter – live | Washington DC plane crash

Key events

Muriel Bowser says there is “a profound sense of grief” after the crash, adding that families have been affected “from across our region, as well as in Kansas and across the country.”

Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser is beginning her update briefing at Reagan national airport.

Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser and other officials to host briefing on Washington DC crash

This graphic illustrates what we know about the flight paths of the American Airlines flight, operated by PSA Airlines as American Eagle Flight 5342, and the US army Black Hawk helicopter on a training flight that collided at about 9pm local time on Wednesday evening, with both aircraft ending up in the Potomac River. Local media reports that about 30 bodies have been recovered. The plane was carrying 60 passengers and four crew, and the army helicopter had three service personnel on board.

Illustration of flight paths of the aircraft that crashed in Washington DC.

Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser and other officials are scheduled to hold a news conference at Reagan national airport shortly, and we will bring you the key lines that emerge.

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Jasper Jolly

American Airlines shares are down in pre-market trading, after one of the company’s aircraft collided in mid-air with a US army helicopter near Washington DC.

Shares are down 2.7% in pre-market trading, according to MarketWatch data. So far there is no indication of any fault on the part of the airline, with investigations into the disaster at an early stage.

NBC News has spoken to one witness near the crash, 38-year-old Abadi Ismail, who said he heard a noise which may have been the incident, describing it as “something you don’t hear on a daily basis.”

He told the news network:

I was getting ready to go to bed, laying down. I mean and I hear “Bang! Bang!”

A very unusual sound. Something you don’t hear on a daily basis. It’s more like from a war zone, or something you hear on the movies … action … so that caught my attention.

I looked up at the sky, I looked out the window, and all I could see at that moment was just smoke from the south side of Reagan airport, you know.

And then I started taking videos, because I’ve started to see some activities – that’s like 5-10 minutes after.

At least 30 bodies recovered from water at Washington DC crash site – local media

Emergency crews have recovered more than 30 bodies from the water after the crash near Reagan national airport in Washington DC, two sources familiar with search efforts have told local station NBC4.

An American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided with a US army Black Hawk helicopter with three soldiers onboard while attempting to land at Reagan national airport at about 9pm local time on Wednesday evening.

Both aircraft crashed into the Potomac River in freezing conditions, and 300 first responders have been deployed in a search and rescue endeavour.

This image appears to show some wreckage from the plane in the Potomac River alongside rescue workers. Photograph: Carlos Barría/Reuters

There is a media briefing expected at 7.30am local time (12.30 GMT).

Map of Washington DC crash site

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Fatal crashes of commercial aircraft in the US have become a rarity, Associated Press notes. The last was in 2009 near Buffalo, New York. All 45 passengers and the four crew members were killed when a Bombardier DHC-8 propeller plane crashed into a house. One person on the ground also was killed.

Here is one of the latest images of first responders carrying out the search and rescue operation on the Potomac River.

Emergency personnel and divers work next to parts of the wreckage of the American Eagle flight 5342 in the Potomac River. Photograph: Carlos Barría/Reuters

The Federal Aviation Administration said the midair crash occurred around 9pm when American Airlines flight 5342 – a regional jet that had departed from Wichita, Kansas – collided with an army helicopter while on approach to an airport runway. The collision took place in some of the most tightly controlled and monitored airspace in the world, just over three miles south of the White House and the Capitol.

Sam Jones, Philip Wen and Helen Livingstone have our latest updated report on the crash:

Officials have not given any figure for the number of bodies recovered from the crash site in the Potomac River.

There is a media briefing expected at 7.30am local time (12.30 GMT).

In the meantime, Associated Press reports “there were multiple fatalities, according to a person familiar with the matter, but the precise number of victims was unclear as rescue crews hunted for any survivors.”

The news agency added that the person who told it that there had been multiple deaths was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation, and spoke to on condition of anonymity.

Low temperatures are also hampering first responders, with the BBC forecasting “a minimum of -1C (30F) through the rest of the night.”

Emergency personnel work near the site of the crash. Photograph: Carlos Barría/Reuters

The official spokesperson for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, has said the data is “confirmed” that former world champion Russian figure skaters Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were on board the crashed American Airlines flight.

Tass reports Peskov said “There were other fellow citizens of ours there too. Bad news from Washington today.”

CBS News reporter Kris Van Cleave has said that human remains and aircraft debris have been washing up on the Virginia side of the Potomac River.

He told the news network the plane broke into multiple pieces, and that diving crews have had some access to the cabin, and have recovered one black box. He also reported that the helicopter “is upside down but appears to be mostly intact.”

American Airlines flight 5342 was inbound to Reagan national airport with 60 passengers and four crew on board when it collided with a US army Black Hawk helicopter at about 9pm local time on Wednesday night.

A map of where the crash took place

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