(MENAFN- Khaleej Times)
There are likely no survivors from a collision between a passenger jet and US army helicopter in Washington, officials said Thursday, as recovery operations pulled 28 bodies from the river into which both crashed.
"At this point we don't believe there are any survivors," Washington Fire Chief John Donnelly told a news conference at Reagan National Airport, outside the US capital. "We are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation."
Donnelly said 27 bodies were recovered from the plane and one from the helicopter.
A massive search-and-rescue operation is in progress, with divers visible in the glare of powerful lights as they plunged into the snow-lined Potomac to scour the wreckage of both aircraft.
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Washington Fire Chief John Donnelly told a press briefing that emergency crews, totalling about 300 people, were working in "extremely rough" conditions and gave little indication they expected to find anyone alive.
"We're going to be out there as long as it takes," Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters.
Who are on the plane?
US Figure Skating said several athletes, coaches and officials were aboard the flight, while officials in Moscow confirmed married Russian couple Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov - who won the 1994 world pairs title - were on the jet.
"We unfortunately see that these sad reports are being confirmed. Our other fellow citizens were there," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The Bombadier plane operated by an American Airlines subsidiary was approaching Reagan National Airport at around 9pm (0200 GMT) after flying from Wichita, Kansas, when the collision happened.
US Army officials said the helicopter involved was a Black Hawk carrying three soldiers on a "training flight".
Witness Ari Schulman was driving home when he saw what he described as "a stream of sparks" overhead.
"Initially I saw the plane and it looked fine, normal. It was right about to head over land," he told CNN.
"Three seconds later, and at that point it was banked all the way to the right... I could see the underside of it, it was lit up a very bright yellow, and there was a stream of sparks underneath it," Schulman added.
"It looked like a Roman candle."
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