Dozens have died after an American Airlines passenger plane and a helicopter collided in mid-air in Washington DC.
The incident occurred late on Wednesday evening, around 9pm local time, when a plane carrying 60 passengers and four crew was en route from Wichita, Kansas, to the American capital.
The crash site is centred on the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. A US official said three soldiers were aboard the helicopter, which was on a training flight.
Washington DC's fire chief John Donnelly has confirmed it is now being treated as a recovery operation and it is not believed there are any survivors.
City mayor Muriel Bowser said all Americans share a "profound sense of grief" over the "tragic events."
Wreckage is being searched in Washington DC
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Map showing the final moments of an American Airlines passenger plane just before it collided mid-air with a military helicopter and crashed into the Potomac River
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Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser addresses the media
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Emergency units respond after a passenger aircraft collided with a helicopter in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington Airport
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Rescuers on a boat work next to the wreckage of a Black Hawk helicopter
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US President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social page: "Why didn't the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn't the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!".
Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser wrote on X: "Tonight, as our first responders continue their efforts, we are sending our love and prayers to the families, loved ones, and communities who are experiencing loss during this terrible tragedy."
The Kansas Aviation Museum announced a city prayer vigil will be held at noon today in the Wichita City Council chambers.
Web camera footage from the Kennedy Center in Washington showed an explosion mid-air across the Potomac about 8.47 pm (1.47am GMT) with an aircraft in flames falling rapidly. PSA was operating Flight 5342 for American Airlines, according to the FAA.
American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said in a video statement: "We're cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board in its investigation and will continue to provide all the information we can."
Dozens of police, ambulance and rescue units, some ferrying boats, staged along the river and raced to positions along the tarmac of Reagan airport. Live TV images showed several boats in the water, flashing blue and red lights.
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CEO of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority John E. Potter addresses the media
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Emergency services at the scene
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Emergency alert is displayed on screens at Ronald Reagan National Airport
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American Airlines CEO Robert Isom told a press conference: "We're cooperating with the National Transportation Safety Board in its investigation and will continue to provide all the information we can."
Air traffic control recordings appear to capture the final attempted communications with the helicopter, call sign PAT25, before it collides with the plane, described as CRJ.
"PAT25, do you have a CRJ in sight? PAT25, pass behind the CRJ," an air traffic controller says at 8.47 pm (1.47am GMT), according to a recording on liveatc.net.
Seconds later, another aircraft calls in to air traffic control, saying, "Tower, did you see that?" - apparently referring to the crash. An air traffic controller then redirects planes heading to runway 33 to go around.
Kansas Senator Roger Marshall told reporters: "When one person dies, it's a tragedy but when many, many, many people die, it's an unbearable sorrow. It's a heartbreak beyond major. I want the folks back home to just know that we care, that we love them and that this is a time when we will have to join arms together and help each other out.
"We've been through things like this before — through tornadoes and floods and things, but it's really hard when you lose probably over 60 Kansans simultaneously. I don't want to forget the pilots and the flight attendants who were doing their jobs, and the military personnel we lost. All those lives are so valuable, and it is such a tragedy that we lost them."
Emergency personnel work near the site of the crash in the Potomac
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An emergency response team with Washington, DC Fire and EMS and DC Police load diving equipment on a boat to continue working the scene of airplane wreckage
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Russian state-run TASS news agency reported Russian figure skaters and coaches Yevgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were aboard the American Airlines plan.
Shishkova and Naumov, who were married, won the world championship in pairs figure skating in 1994. US Figure Skating said that several members of its skating community were on the flight as well.
Inna Volyanskaya, a former skater who competed for the Soviet Union, was also reported to have been on board, TASS said. She was a coach at the Washington figure skating club, according to its website.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X: "Shocking reports from Washington, D.C., as an American Airlines jet and a military helicopter collided in midair. Our condolences to the victims' families and loved ones."
