All 67 passengers aboard both aircraft lost their lives in the tragic mid-air collision. The search for the victims of last week’s DC plane crash is still ongoing.
On Wednesday (January 29), an Army helicopter carrying three soldiers and an American Airlines plane with 64 people on board collided mid-flight.
Both aircraft then plunged into the icy waters of the Potomac River, where rescue teams continue their efforts to recover the deceased.
At the time of writing, 55 out of the 67 victims have been retrieved from the water.
Rescue teams have been working under extremely difficult conditions.
Matthew Schanck, an International Maritime Search and Rescue & Emergency Response Expert, told BBC News: “There’s ice in the river, it’s particularly cold and that makes it very challenging to [rescue] crews.
“There’s not a lot of time to really try and locate any survivors and rescue them because of the cold.”
The freezing water temperatures have been so severe that a diver from the Metropolitan Police Department had to be rushed to the hospital for treatment due to a ‘hypothermia situation.’
Fortunately, the diver has since been released and is recovering well, according to Washington DC Fire and EMS Chief, John Donnelly.
“We’re happy to report that he’s doing fine, and that that’s the only injury we have today,” Donnelly shared, as reported by NBC News.
He further stated yesterday (February 2): “For the rest of the day, the salvage crews are continuing to survey the site and get ready for tomorrow.”
A diver working the American Airlines crash scene in DC was taken to the hospital with hypothermia.
He is doing fine now, the chief says.
The firefighters are working very hard — spoke to one yesterday – they are emotionally wiped out after seeing the horror up close.— Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) February 2, 2025
Meanwhile, rescue personnel have spoken about the harrowing experiences they’ve encountered during the recovery efforts.
Brian Entin, from NewsNation, reported that a firefighter confided in him, saying they are all “emotionally wiped out after seeing the horror [of the crash] up close.”
In a follow-up tweet, Entin revealed: “The firefighter I met explained that the water is actually very clear. With flashlights they saw horrible things when they arrived.”
Many unanswered questions remain regarding the events leading up to the fatal collision, but officials hope the black boxes from both aircraft will provide crucial insights into what happened.
Senior Army aviation adviser Jonathan Koziol emphasized the importance of the flight recorders, stating: “There’s a lot of experts out there, but until we get the data from the black boxes, that’s the only truth, and we won’t know that for a little bit.”
