Washington plane crash: No survivors after aircraft carrying 64 onboard crashes into Potomac river, confirms official

An aircraft with 64 people on board collided with a military helicopter not far from DCA.

A fire department official confirmed that there are no survivors in the midair collision that took place between a US Army Blackhawk helicopter and a passenger jet in Washington DC earlier today, according to news agency AFP.

An aircraft with 64 people on board collided with a military helicopter not far from DCA; a ground stop was ordered at the airport. Local media reported 28 bodies have been recovered from the Potomac River.

"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."

The air traffic controllers warned the US Army helicopter it was on course to collide with a passenger jet, with audio captured from the deadly accident ending in audible gasps from those in the control room.

In the deadly mid-air collision on Wednesday night, the helicopter struck the Bombardier plane operated by an American Airlines subsidiary as it was approaching for landing at Reagan National Airport.

The fuselage on the American Airlines flight was inverted and found in three different sections in waist deep water, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said. Duffy also said that both aircrafts involved in the crash were in standard flight patterns.

(With AFP inputs)