DC plane crash updates: 55 victims recovered and positively identified

All 67 people on board the plane and the helicopter were killed.

Last Updated: February 2, 2025, 4:59 PM EST

An American Airlines regional jet went down in the Potomac River near Washington, D.C.'s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport after colliding with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, with no survivors.

Sixty-four people were on board the plane, which departed from Wichita, Kansas. Three soldiers were on the helicopter.

The collision happened around 9 p.m. when the PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet was on approach to the airport.

Map of the area around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the layout of Runway 33, which the regional American Airlines jet was approaching at the time of the collision with the Army Black Hawk helicopter, according to officials.
ABC News, Google Earth, Flightradar24, ADS-B Exchange
Jan 30, 2025, 2:04 AM EST

Kansas senator describes 'unbearable sorrow'

In somber remarks at a news conference early Thursday morning, Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall suggested he feared the passengers and crew aboard a regional American Airlines jet and a Black Hawk helicopter that collided were lost.

"When one person dies, it's a tragedy," Marshall said. "But when many, many, many people die, it's an unbearable sorrow … It's really hard when you lose, you know, probably over 60 Kansans, simultaneously."

Speaking of the pilots, flight attendants and military personnel, Marshall added, "All those lives are so valuable, and it is such a tragedy that we lost them."

Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas speaks at a media briefing at Reagan National Airport after a plane crashed into the Potomac River outside Washington, Jan. 30, 2025.
Ting Shen/AFP via Getty Images

Officials have not publicly confirmed any fatalities. There were 64 people aboard the jet and three aboard the helicopter.

Fellow Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran said he knows the flight pattern of Flight 5342 well.

I've flown it many times myself," Moran said, adding that he lobbied American Airlines to add direct, nonstop flight service from Wichita to Reagan National.

Jan 30, 2025, 1:41 AM EST

Search and rescue in Potomac River to continue overnight

Divers and boats are searching the dark, frigid waters of the Potomac River hours after a Black Hawk helicopter collided with a jet approaching Reagan National Airport and both aircraft crashed into the water.

Officials did not provide an update on whether anyone had been pulled from the water or taken to the hospital during an early morning news conference about 1 a.m. Thursday.

D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department Chief John Donnelly said the search-and-rescue effort would continue through the night in very difficult conditions.

Emergency units respond to airplane wreckage in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington Airport on Jan. 30, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

"The conditions out there are extremely rough," Donnelly said. "It's cold. They're dealing with relatively windy conditions."

Jan 30, 2025, 12:48 AM EST

What to know about the deadly collision

A regional American Airlines jet and a Black Hawk military helicopter collided over Washington, D.C., Wednesday night in the first major commercial airline crash since 2009.

Map of the area around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the layout of Runway 33, which the regional American Airlines jet was approaching at the time of the collision with the Army Black Hawk helicopter, according to officials.
ABC News, Flightradar24.com

Jan 30, 2025, 12:25 AM EST

DC-area hospitals report 'no patients' from crash

Three emergency care providers in the Washington, D.C., region have confirmed with ABC News that they have not yet received any patients from the crash.

Inova Fairfax said its "hospitals are prepared to care for any patients from the tragic incident at DCA" just before midnight on Wednesday. "Our hearts are with all those affected," the medical provider also said in its statement to ABC News.

"At this time, we have not received any patients," VHC Health, formerly the Virginia Hospital Center, said in a statement at midnight on Wednesday.

"The crash at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is a sad and shocking tragedy and our thoughts are with all those impacted by this incident. We are working directly with the Arlington and Metropolitan Police Department, Fire, and EMS teams and all authorities," VHC Health said, adding, "VHC Health is prepared to assist and support first responders as these agencies continue their emergency response."

"We did not receive anyone from the plane collision," a representative from MedStar Health confirmed with ABC News.

-ABC News' Youri Benadjaoud and Eric Strauss

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