Washington DC plane crash: Authorities recover 41 bodies after mid-air collision
Authorities have recovered 41 bodies after a plane crash in Washington DC.
Sixty-seven people were killed when an American Airlines jet and a military helicopter collided mid-air on Wednesday night. So far, 28 bodies have been identified.
Both aircraft crashed into the Potomac River after the collision. Some 300 personnel were sent to the scene, but the rescue soon turned into a recovery mission as officials said there were no survivors.
Washington crash: Follow the latest updates
Personnel recovering debris from the river. Pic: Reuters
Federal investigators have recovered the black boxes from the passenger jet, while authorities were still searching for similar devices in the helicopter.
Meanwhile, amid questions over how well the airport’s control tower was staffed on the night of the crash, it’s been confirmed that an air traffic control supervisor had let a controller leave their shift early.
The detail, first reported by the New York Times, has been confirmed to Sky News’ US partner NBC News by a source familiar with the investigation.
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Air traffic controller left early
It means a single controller was handling both plane and helicopter traffic in the area when the two aircraft collided.
It is allowable – but not optimal – for one controller to do both jobs, NBC News reported.
The American Airlines jet was carrying 60 passengers and four crew when it crashed with the Black Hawk helicopter, carrying three soldiers, shortly before 9pm local time on Wednesday.
Flight 5342 was preparing to land on runway 33 at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport when it collided with the helicopter in one of the most tightly controlled airspaces in the world.
‘Emergency vehicles sped past me’
A man whose wife was on the flight has recalled how he saw emergency services “speeding past” as he was waiting at the airport to pick her up.
Hamaad Raza with his wife Asra. Pic: Raza Family
Hamaad Raza told NBC News his wife of two years, Asra, had “texted me [and] said, ‘We’re landing in 20 minutes'”.
“I was waiting and I started seeing a bunch of EMS vehicles speeding past me… way too many, [more] than normal and my texts weren’t going through.”
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Mr Trump blames plane crash on diversity hiring
Trump makes unproven diversity drive claim
Donald Trump has linked a diversity drive at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) under previous governments to the crash.
It has since been said there is no evidence to support the US president’s claim.
Speaking at the White House on Thursday, Mr Trump suggested the diversity efforts had made air travel less safe.
At a White House press briefing on Friday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Mr Trump had signed a memorandum directing an immediate assessment of FAA hiring decisions made during the previous administration.
One of the black boxes being inspected at a lab. Pic: National Transportation Safety Board
Emergency personnel at the site of the crash. Pic: Reuters
While Mr Trump’s claim appears to have been debunked, there are questions over staffing at Reagan Washington National Airport.
NBC News reported staffing in the air traffic control tower was “not normal”, according to an initial FAA report.
The tower normally has a controller who focuses specifically on helicopter traffic – but at the time of the crash, a source said, one controller was overseeing both plane and helicopter activity.
The FAA, which controls air traffic control as well as certification of personnel and aircraft, is without a permanent administrator. Its former boss Michael Whitaker stepped down on 20 January – the day of Mr Trump’s inauguration.
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Mr Trump has appointed an acting administrator, Chris Rocheleau, in the wake of the crash.
Mr Whitaker had clashed with Mr Trump’s confidante Elon Musk over the SpaceX rocket launches during his tenure at the FAA.
Since starting as head of the administration in October 2023, he was also forced to respond to Boeing’s safety and quality problems, and worked to hire more air traffic controllers due to a shortage of staff.
Read more:
Washington DC plane crash: What we know so far
Air traffic control heard diverting planes moments after collision
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CCTV captures moment of mid-air collision
At his briefing, Mr Trump blamed former president Joe Biden for lowering standards for air traffic controllers.
“We have to have our smartest people,” he said. “They have to be naturally talented geniuses.”
Mr Trump added: “The FAA is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems, and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agency’s website.”
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Audio captured moments after the crash
The American Association of People with Disabilities responded to these claims, saying in a statement on X: “FAA employees with disabilities did not cause [the] tragic plane crash.
“The investigation into the crash is still ongoing. It is extremely inappropriate for the president to use this tragedy to push an anti-diversity hiring agenda. Doing so makes all Americans less safe.”
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‘We look at the human, the machine, the environment’
Mr Trump said after being sworn in last week, he signed an executive order which “restored the highest standards of air traffic controllers”.
At a later briefing, he was asked if gender or race played a role. He answered: “It may have, I don’t know. Incompetence may have played a role.”
US transport secretary plans FAA overhaul
Transportation secretary Sean Duffy has said he is working on a plan to reform the FAA .
Alos, Mr Trump’s nominee to lead the US Army, Daniel Driscoll, said at a Senate confirmation hearing that training exercises near an airport like the Washington National Airport may not be appropriate.
Wednesday’s crash was the deadliest in the US since November 2001, when an American Airlines flight hit a residential area of Belle Harbor, New York, just after take-off from Kennedy Airport, killing all 260 people aboard.
The Pentagon and US army are investigating Wednesday’s collision, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said on X.
World
Trump criticises Putin after potentially ‘historic’ meeting with Zelenskyy before Pope’s funeral
Donald Trump has criticised Vladimir Putin and suggested a shift in his stance towards the Russian president after a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the Pope’s funeral.
The Ukrainian president said the one-on-one talks could prove to be “historic” after pictures showed him sitting opposite Mr Trump, around two feet apart, in the large marble hall inside St Peter’s Basilica.
The US president said he doubted his Russian counterpart’s willingness to end the war after leaving Rome after the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican.
Follow live updates: 200,000 mourn at Vatican
In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said “there was no reason” for the Russian president “to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days”.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
He added: “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
The meeting between the US and Ukrainian leaders was their first face-to-face encounter since a very public row in the Oval Office in February.
Mr Zelenskyy said he had a good meeting with Mr Trump in which they talked about the defence of the Ukrainian people, a full and unconditional ceasefire, and a durable and lasting peace that would prevent the war restarting.
Other images released by the Ukrainian president’s office show Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were present for part of the talks, which were described as “positive” by the French presidency.
Mr Zelenskyy‘s spokesman said the meeting lasted for around 15 minutes and he and Mr Trump had agreed to hold further discussions later on Saturday.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Basilica
But the US president left Rome for Washington on Air Force One soon after the funeral without any other talks having taken place.
The Ukrainian president’s office said there was no second meeting in Rome because of the tight schedule of both leaders, although he had separate discussions with Mr Starmer and Mr Macron.
The French president said in a post on X “Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire” and that a so-called coalition of the willing, led by the UK and France, would continue working to achieve a lasting peace.
There was applause from some of the other world leaders in attendance at the Vatican when Mr Zelenskyy walked out of St Peter’s Basilica after stopping in front of the pontiff’s coffin to pay his respects.
Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president met for the first time since their Oval Office row. Pic: Reuters
Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and the Ukrainian leader.
He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine.
Professor Father Francesco Giordano told Sky News the meeting is being called “Pope Francis’s miracle” by members of the clergy, adding: “There’s so many things that happened today – it was just overwhelming.”
The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Mr Putin at the Kremlin.
They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
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Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which began in February 2022.
Mr Trump has claimed a deal to end the war is “very close” and has urged Mr Zelenskyy to “get it done” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
He has previously warned both sides his administration would walk away from its efforts to achieve a peace if the two sides do not agree a deal soon.
Meanwhile, the Polish armed forces said a Russian military helicopter violated its airspace over the Baltic Sea on Friday evening.
“The nature of the incident indicates that Russia is testing the readiness of our air defence systems,” they said in a post on X.
On an extraordinary day, remarkable pictures on the margins that capture what may be a turning point for the world.
In a corner of St Peter’s Basilica before the funeral of Pope Francis, the leaders of America and Ukraine sit facing each other in two solitary chairs.
They look like confessor and sinner except we cannot tell which one is which.
Leaning forward hands together in their laps, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy stare at each other in one photo.
In another, the Ukrainian president seems to be remonstrating with the US president. This is their first encounter since their infamous bust-up in the Oval Office.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
Other pictures show the moment their French and British counterparts introduced the two men. There is a palpable sense of nervousness in the way the leaders engage.
We do not know what the two presidents said in their brief meeting.
But in the mind of the Ukrainian leader will be the knowledge President Trump has this week said America will reward Russia for its unprovoked brutal invasion of his country, under any peace deal.
Mr Trump has presented Ukraine and Russia with a proposal and ultimatum so one-sided it could have been written in the Kremlin.
Kyiv must surrender the land Russia has taken by force, Crimea forever, the rest at least for now. And it must submit to an act of extortion, a proposed deal that would hand over half its mineral wealth effectively to America.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Afterwards, Zelenskyy said it had been a good meeting that could turn out to be historic “if we reach results together”.
They had talked, he said, about the defence of Ukraine, a full and unconditional ceasefire and a durable and lasting peace that will prevent a war restarting.
The Trump peace proposal includes only unspecified security guarantees for Ukraine from countries that do not include the US. It rules out any membership of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies are watching closely to see if Mr Trump will apply any pressure on Vladimir Putin, let alone punish him for recent bloody attacks on Ukraine.
Or will he simply walk away if the proposal fails, blaming Ukrainian intransigence, however outrageously, before moving onto a rapprochement with Moscow.
If he does, America’s role as guarantor of international security will be seen effectively as over.
This could be the week we see the world order as we have known it since the end of the Second World War buried, as well as a pope.
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