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US President Donald Trump — speaking as the bodies of 67 people were being pulled from Washington’s Potomac River — launched an extraordinary political attack Thursday, blaming diversity hires for the midair collision between an airliner and a military helicopter.The Republican confirmed the deaths of all those aboard both aircraft, and also cited pilot error on the helicopter in the nighttime crash.But he chiefly used a press conference to open fire at what he said were left-wing diversity practices under his predecessors Joe Biden and Barack Obama that he said kept out good employees at the Federal Aviation Administration.”I put safety first. Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first,” Trump said. “They actually came out with a directive: ‘too white.’ And we want the people that are competent.”As Trump spoke in the White House, police divers searched for more bodies in the water.Wreckage of the Bombardier jet operated by an American Airlines subsidiary protruded from the surface, surrounded by emergency vessels and diving teams. It had been carrying 64 people.The army Blackhawk helicopter, which had three soldiers aboard, was also in the river.”We are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation,” Washington Fire Chief John Donnelly said. Twenty eight bodies had already been found.The collision — the first major crash in the United States since 2009 when 49 people were killed near Buffalo, New York — occurred late evening on Wednesday as the airliner came into land at Reagan National Airport after a routine flight from Wichita, Kansas.Reagan National is a major airport located only a short distance from downtown Washington, the Pentagon and other major sites in the capital. The airspace is extremely busy, with civilian and military aircraft a constant presence.Dramatic audio from air traffic controllers showed them repeatedly asking the helicopter if it had the passenger jet “in sight,” and then just before the crash telling it to “pass behind” the plane.- Trump politicizes crash -Trump opened his press conference by speaking of the nation’s “anguish” and said that the investigation would take time.However, he then launched into an extended broadside against so-called diversity, equity and inclusion policies.Trump — who began his presidency a week ago with an onslaught against decades-old measures aimed at preventing sexism and racism in the United States — singled out Biden’s openly gay transport secretary Pete Buttigieg.”He’s run it right into the ground with his diversity,” Trump said.The message was hammered home as Trump’s vice president, JD Vance, and new defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, took turns at the podium to repeat that diversity measures kept capable Americans out of responsible jobs.Asked again by reporters whether he was blaming workplace diversity for the crash, Trump answered: “It could have been.”- Skaters among victims -Hundreds of rescuers were rapidly at the scene, but found themselves battling darkness and floating ice through the night. Some of the debris was found a mile downriver.Among those on the airliner were several US skaters and coaches, US Figure Skating said. Officials in Moscow also confirmed the presence of Russian couple Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who won the 1994 world pairs title.The violence of the collision soon made it clear that survivors were unlikely.”I just saw a fireball and it was gone,” one air traffic controller was heard telling a colleague after communication with the helicopter was cut.- What happened? -Transport officials said both aircraft were on standard flight patterns on a clear night with good visibility.Hegseth said the Black Hawk chopper had “a fairly experienced crew that was doing a required annual night evaluation.””Do I think this was preventable? Absolutely,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.Trump, in addition to blaming racial and other kinds of diversity policies, offered extended remarks on the flight paths.The helicopter was “going at an angle that was unbelievably bad,” Trump said.”The air traffic controller said, ‘Do you see… Do you see him?’ But there was very little time left when that was stated,” the president added, blaming a “confluence of bad decisions.”

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Thursday that if US counterpart Donald Trump hiked tariffs on Brazilian products, he would reciprocate — but that he would prefer improved relations over a trade war.The Latin American giant is one of the countries that Trump has threatened with higher tariffs.”It’s very simple: if he taxes Brazilian products, Brazil will reciprocate in taxing products that are exported from the United States,” the 79-year-old Lula told a press conference.Lula, currently in his third term, said he would prefer to “improve our relationship with the United States” and boost trade ties with Brazil’s second-largest trading partner after China.”I want to respect the United States and for Trump to respect Brazil. That’s all,” he said.Citing Trump’s comments that he plans to take back the Panama Canal or get control of Greenland, Lula said “he just has to respect the sovereignty of other countries.”Lula also underscored the global threats facing democracy.”For me, democracy is the most important thing in humanity right now … Either we keep democracy working or we will have states more authoritarian than Hitler and fascism.”Lula, whose country will host the COP30 UN climate talks in the Amazonian city of Belem in November, added that Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord was “a step back for human civilization.”He said he did not want a summit where “measures are approved, everything looks very nice on paper and then no country complies,” slamming wealthy nations for failing to meet previous promises to give billions of dollars to help developing nations deal with the fallout of climate change.”We want something very real so that we can know if we are serious or not about the climate issue.”- Seizing back the narrative -The president held a wide-ranging press conference in the capital Brasilia, urging journalists not to hold back in their questions as his government seeks to reclaim the narrative after battling a wave of disinformation.After undergoing emergency surgery to stop a brain bleed in December linked to an earlier fall, Lula vowed he was fully recovered and had “the energy of a 30-year-old.”With less than two years left of his third presidential term, Lula’s approval rating has sunk to 47 percent, according to a Quaest poll published this week, with a notable drop in support from his key electoral base in the low-income northeast of the country.Lula said he was “not worried” about opinion surveys, and brushed off concerns about high interest rates and public debt.As expected, the central bank on Wednesday hiked the key interest rate by one point to 13.25 percent, despite a new bank president being appointed by Lula — who has in the past criticized interest rate hikes.”The president of the central bank cannot make a U-turn in a stormy sea,” Lula said, adding that he had faith in new bank chief Gabriel Galipolo who would have “autonomy to do whatever is necessary.”Lula also sought to ease concerns over government interventions to lower food prices and vowed his commitment to “fiscal responsibility.”His government is weighing reducing import tariffs on certain goods, and he highlighted the need to provide more financing to ramp up production, saying he was working on a plan with banks for “the largest credit program in the history of this country.”Concerns over Brazil’s ability to curb public spending in December sent its currency, the real, to record lows against the dollar.

The deadliest US plane crash for a decade poses the first major test for Donald Trump’s fledgling administration — and for the president’s plans to radically reshape the government, including the civil aviation agency.The collision between a passenger jet and a military helicopter came only six hours after Trump’s new transportation secretary was sworn in, and just days after the arrival of the new Pentagon chief.Trump quickly weighed in with a critical take, saying the crash “should have been prevented,” and questioning both why the helicopter did not “go up or down, or turn” and why the control tower did not “tell the helicopter what to do.”His administration is at pains to show it has a grip on the situation following the crash, which unfolded just miles from the White House, likely leaving more than 60 dead and no survivors.Trump was to speak from the podium in the White House briefing room on Thursday.He spent the night of the crash being briefed by officials in the Situation Room, and his national security advisor was seen arriving back at the White House early Thursday.”I have been fully briefed on the terrible accident,” Trump said on his Truth Social account. “May God bless their souls.”- Diversity ‘madness’ -Yet the crash also shines a spotlight on how Trump’s right-wing administration is putting a strain on the civilian and military agencies he will need to properly investigate the crash, and deal with future crises.The Federal Aviation Authority, which controls America’s skies, has no full-time boss because its leader stepped down on inauguration day after Elon Musk demanded that he quit. The billionaire Space X owner, who is heading Trump’s cost-cutting Department for Government Efficiency (DOGE) in Trump’s administration, had criticized Mike Whitaker for the agency’s oversight of rocket launches.Separately, the FAA was also one of the first targets for the slew of orders that Trump unleashed after his inauguration on January 20 targeting “woke politics.”The order targeted “DEI madness” in hiring employees for the FAA, referring to “diversity, equity and inclusion” programs.The crash meanwhile marks the grimmest possible start to work for Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who promised a “golden age of transportation” when he was sworn in at the White House on Wednesday by Vice President JD Vance.A day later he was giving a press conference on the crash at Reagan Airport, insisting that the United States had the “most safe and secure airspace in the world.”- ‘Tragedy’ -The spotlight will also be on new US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, a former Fox TV contributor and military veteran, who is also in his first week in the job.Signs were mounting that the military Black Hawk helicopter involved may have been to blame for the mid-air crash with a passenger jet operated by an American Airlines subsidiary.Hegseth has pledged a war on “woke” in the US armed forces to restore their “lethality”, and Trump has signed an order to rid the military of what he calls  “transgender ideology.”But his predecessor Lloyd Austin appeared to criticize Trump’s plans before his departure, saying that a military that “turns away qualified patriots” would become “smaller and weaker.”Hegseth will also be under pressure to deliver after squeaking through his confirmation process due to allegations of alcohol abuse, sexual misconduct and concerns over inexperience.He said in a video message on Thursday that the Pentagon was “actively working to investigate” why the helicopter on a training flight had collided with the passenger jet.”It’s a tragedy, a horrible loss of life,” Hegseth said. “As we get updates, you will have them.” 

The US economy expanded at a solid clip in 2024, helped by consumer and government spending, official data showed Thursday, signaling its resilience as President Donald Trump takes over the reins.Trump won a commanding victory in last November’s election on the back of public dissatisfaction over cost-of-living pressures, even as inflation has cooled while the job gains continued.In the October to December period, the world’s biggest economy grew at an annual rate of 2.3 percent, the Commerce Department said, slowing from the 3.1 percent rate in July-September.Trump took office January 20, inheriting robust growth as his term kicks off.The latest figure was in line with a consensus forecast by Briefing.com.For 2024, GDP rose 2.8 percent from the annual level a year prior.Consumer spending, investment and government spending were among the drivers behind last year’s growth, according to Commerce Department data. The US economy has broadly held up in the face of high interest rates, helped by a resilient labor market with low unemployment and still-growing wages.This has allowed consumers to keep spending, even as they drew down on savings accumulated during the Covid-19 pandemic.- ‘Souring mood’ -“Consumer spending on both goods and services continued to drive a substantial portion of growth,” said Joel Kan, deputy chief economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association.The latest data indicate the economy and job market remain strong, consistent with the US central bank’s view, he noted.Wages have continued to outpace inflation, while recent hurricanes triggered “replacement demand” for items like vehicles, said KPMG chief economist Diane Swonk in a note.Another factor was “massive wealth effects from sharp increases in equity and home values,” boosting spending in particular among higher-income households, added Nationwide chief economist Kathy Bostjancic.But Swonk warned that “the economy continues to look better on paper than it feels to most Americans.”The overall gains mask a “souring mood among consumers,” she believes, citing “inequality and the unease beneath the surface due to the high level of prices of the basics of food and shelter.”Swonk earlier told AFP that government spending could also have been stronger than expected as the outgoing administration of former president Joe Biden pushed funding out the door in its final months. This included defense spending for Ukraine.- Policy uncertainty -One drag on growth, however, was that businesses invested less in inventories than anticipated, according to Robert Frick, corporate economist with the Navy Federal Credit Union.This could be a response to economic uncertainty surrounding the new presidential administration, he noted.The sequencing and magnitude of policies on tariffs and immigration remains to be seen, Swonk said, expecting that their effects will also take time to materialize.She expects growth to cool in 2025 and that tariffs will increase, although the hikes will not necessarily translate into full-blown trade wars with all countries.Matthew Martin, senior US economist at Oxford Economics, told AFP that even though Trump has used “inflammatory words” on trade policy, these appear to be more of “a negotiation tactic.””The question is how far does this go,” said Dan North, senior economist for Allianz Trade North America, referring to the scale of tariffs and retaliation from other US trading partners.”Trade wars tend to be losers for everybody involved,” he told AFP.Looking ahead, analysts anticipate January’s employment figures will take a hit from devastating wildfires in California.Brendan Boyle, top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, called the fourth quarter growth figure “undeniable proof” that policies under Biden have proven effective.

Divers pulled bodies from the icy waters of Washington’s Potomac river Thursday after a US military helicopter collided midair with a passenger plane carrying 64 people, with officials saying there were likely no survivors.As dawn broke over the crash site just three miles (five kilometers) from the White House, wreckage from both aircraft protruded from the water and emergency vessels and diving teams scoured the area.”We are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation,” Washington Fire Chief John Donnelly told a news conference at Reagan National Airport.”We don’t believe there are any survivors,” he said, adding that 28 bodies had been recovered so far — including one from the helicopter.At least 300 first responders were involved in the operation — conducted in pitch darkness for several hours — with recovery teams discovering debris a mile downriver.”These responders found extremely frigid conditions, they found heavy wind, they found ice on the water, and they operated all night,” Donnelly said.There were no details on the cause of the crash, with transport officials saying both aircraft were on standard flight patterns on a clear night with good visibility. “Do I think this was preventable? Absolutely,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told the news conference.Dramatic audio from air traffic controllers showed them repeatedly asking the helicopter if it had the passenger jet “in sight,” and then just before the crash telling it to “pass behind” the plane.- ‘A fireball and it was gone’ -“I just saw a fireball and it was gone,” one air traffic controller was heard telling another after communication with the helicopter was cut.Both aircraft crashed into the Potomac river, and the fuselage of the passenger jet was broken into three sections.US Figure Skating said several athletes, coaches and officials were aboard the flight, while officials in Moscow confirmed married Russian couple Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov — who won the 1994 world pairs title — were also on the jet.The Bombardier plane operated by an American Airlines subsidiary, with 60 passengers and four crew on board, was approaching the airport at around 9:00 pm (0200 GMT) after flying from Wichita, Kansas, when the collision happened.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Black Hawk chopper had “a fairly experienced crew that was doing a required annual night evaluation.””They did have night vision goggles,” he added.Witness Ari Schulman was driving home when he saw “the plane and it looked fine, normal. It was right about to head over land.””Three seconds later, and at that point it was banked all the way to the right… I could see the underside of it, it was lit up a very bright yellow,” Schulman told CNN.- Trump criticizes traffic control -President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak on the matter at 11:00 am (1600 GMT), but in the meantime posted a critical take on social media.”The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.”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!!!”The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the grounding of all planes at Reagan National, with operations set to resume at 11:00 am (1600 GMT).American Airlines’ chief executive Robert Isom expressed “deep sorrow” and said the plane pilot had six years’ experience.US Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas called the collision “nothing short of a nightmare.”- Crowded airspace -It was unclear how a passenger plane with modern collision-avoidance technology and traffic controllers could collide with a military aircraft over the nation’s capital.The airspace around Washington is often crowded, with planes coming in low over the city to land at Reagan National and helicopters — military, civilian and carrying senior politicians or officials — buzzing about both day and night.The same airport was the scene of a deadly crash in 1982 when a Boeing 737 plummeted after takeoff, hitting a bridge and crashing through the ice into the Potomac. Seventy-eight people died.burs-gh/bgs/bfm

US officials said Thursday there were likely no survivors after a passenger jet carrying 64 people collided in midair with a military helicopter and crashed into the icy waters of Washington’s Potomac river.”We are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation,” Washington Fire Chief John Donnelly told a news conference at Reagan National Airport.”At this point we don’t believe there are any survivors,” Donnelly said, adding that 28 bodies had been recovered — including one from the helicopter.As dawn broke over the crash site, emergency vessels with powerful arc lights and inflatables with diving teams could be seen moving back and forth over a wide area of the river.Donnelly said 300 first responders had been involved in the operation — most of it conducted in pitch darkness.”These responders found extremely frigid conditions, they found heavy wind, they found ice on the water, and they operated all night in those conditions,” he said.There were no details on the cause of the crash, with transport officials saying both aircraft were on standard flight patterns on a clear night with good visibility. “Do I think this was preventable? Absolutely,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told the news conference.Dramatic audio from air traffic controllers showed them repeatedly asking the helicopter if it had the passenger jet “in sight,” and then just before the crash telling it to “pass behind” the plane.”I just saw a fireball and it was gone,” one air traffic controller was heard telling another after communication with the helicopter was cut.Both aircraft crashed into the Potomac river and the fuselage of the passenger jet was inverted and broken into three sections.US Figure Skating said several athletes, coaches and officials were aboard the flight, while officials in Moscow confirmed married Russian couple Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov — who won the 1994 world pairs title — were on the jet.The Bombardier plane operated by an American Airlines subsidiary, with 60 passengers and four crew on board, was approaching Reagan National Airport at around 9:00 pm (0200 GMT) after flying from Wichita, Kansas, when the collision happened.US Army officials said the helicopter involved was a Black Hawk carrying three soldiers on a “training flight.”Witness Ari Schulman was driving home when he saw what he described as “a stream of sparks” overhead.”Initially I saw the plane and it looked fine, normal. It was right about to head over land,” he told CNN.”Three seconds later, and at that point it was banked all the way to the right… I could see the underside of it, it was lit up a very bright yellow, and there was a stream of sparks underneath it,” Schulman added.”It looked like a Roman candle.”- Trump criticizes traffic control -While other officials stressed they were waiting for investigations to unfold — President Donald Trump posted a critical take on the incident on social media.”The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.”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!!!”The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the grounding of all planes at Reagan National, with operations set to resume at 11:00 am (1600GMT).American Airlines’ chief executive Robert Isom expressed “deep sorrow,” while US Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas called the collision “nothing short of a nightmare.”- Crowded airspace -It was unclear how a passenger plane with modern collision-avoidance technology and nearby traffic controllers could collide with a military aircraft over the nation’s capital.The airspace around Washington is often crowded, with planes coming in low over the city to land at Reagan National and helicopters — military, civilian and carrying senior politicians or officials — buzzing about both day and night.The same airport was the scene of a deadly crash in January 1982 when Air Florida Flight 90, a Boeing 737, took off but quickly plummeted, hitting the 14th Street bridge and crashing through the ice into the Potomac River. Seventy-eight people died.

A passenger jet carrying 64 people crashed into Washington’s Potomac River Wednesday after colliding midair with a military helicopter, with US media reporting multiple bodies pulled from the dark, near-freezing water.A massive search and rescue operation was in progress, with divers visible in the glare of powerful lights as they plunged into the snow-lined Potomac to scour the wreckage of both aircraft.Washington Fire Chief John Donnelly told a press briefing that emergency crews, totaling about 300 people, were working in “extremely rough” conditions and gave little indication they expected to find anyone alive.”We’re going to be out there as long as it takes,” Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters.Citing local sources, CBS News said at least 18 bodies had been recovered, while NBC reported more than a dozen.US Figure Skating said several athletes, coaches and officials were aboard the flight, while officials in Moscow confirmed married Russian couple Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov — who won the 1994 world pairs title — were on the jet.”We unfortunately see that these sad reports are being confirmed. Our other fellow citizens were there,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The Bombadier plane operated by an American Airlines subsidiary was approaching Reagan National Airport at around 9:00 pm (0200 GMT) after flying from Wichita, Kansas, when the collision happened.US Army officials said the helicopter involved was a Black Hawk carrying three soldiers on a “training flight”.Witness Ari Schulman was driving home when he saw what he described as “a stream of sparks” overhead.”Initially I saw the plane and it looked fine, normal. It was right about to head over land,” he told CNN.”Three seconds later, and at that point it was banked all the way to the right… I could see the underside of it, it was lit up a very bright yellow, and there was a stream of sparks underneath it,” Schulman added.”It looked like a Roman candle.”- Trump criticizes traffic control -President Donald Trump said in an official statement that he had been “fully briefed”, and added of any victims, “may God bless their souls.” Less than four hours after the disaster — and while other officials stressed they were waiting for investigations to unfold — he took to social media to critique air traffic control.”The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.”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!!!”The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the grounding of all planes at Reagan National and the airport was not due to reopen until 11:00 am (1600 GMT) Thursday.American Airlines’ chief executive issued a video statement in which he expressed “deep sorrow”, while US Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas called the collision “nothing short of a nightmare.”- Crowded airspace -It was unclear how a passenger plane with modern collision-avoidance technology and nearby traffic controllers could collide with a military aircraft over the nation’s capital.The airspace around Washington is often crowded, with planes coming in low over the city to land at Reagan Airport and helicopters — military, civilian and carrying senior politicians or officials — buzzing about both day and night.The same airport was the scene of a deadly crash in January 1982 when Air Florida Flight 90, a Boeing 737, took off but quickly plummeted, hitting the 14th Street bridge and crashing through the ice into the Potomac River. Seventy-eight people died.Investigators concluded the pilot had failed to activate sufficient de-icing procedures.The last major fatal US air accident was in 2009, when Continental Flight 3407 from New Jersey to Buffalo, New York crashed and killed all 49 people aboard.

President Ferdinand Marcos said Thursday his government will remove a US missile system from the Philippines if Beijing ends its “aggressive and coercive behaviour” in the contested South China Sea and ceases claiming Filipino territory.The US military deployed the Typhon missile system in the northern Philippines last year as part of an annual joint exercise, and Filipino troops have been training with it, with plans to acquire the system as a means to protect Manila’s maritime interests.Beijing’s forces have engaged in several confrontations with Philippine vessels in recent months over disputed reefs and waters in the strategically located South China Sea.The US mid-range weapon system’s presence on Philippine soil has angered China, which has warned Manila was “inciting geopolitical confrontation and an arms race” in the region.”I don’t understand the comments on the Typhon missiles. We don’t make any comments on their missile systems, and their missile systems are a thousand times more powerful than what we have,” Marcos told reporters Thursday during a visit to the central city of Cebu.”Let’s make a deal with China: Stop claiming our territory, stop harassing our fishermen and let them have a living, stop ramming our boats, stop water-cannoning our people, stop firing lasers at us, and stop your aggressive and coercive behaviour,” Marcos said.”If they stop doing all these things, I will return” the Typhon system to the United States, he added.Manila and Washington are bound by a mutual defence pact, and the recent South China Sea clashes have sparked fears the US military could be drawn into a war with China.The Philippine military said this week another of its platoons would be trained on using the Typhon system in February, ahead of annual joint drills with key ally the United States.

A US passenger jet carrying 64 people crashed into Washington’s Potomac River Wednesday after colliding midair with a military helicopter on a night training exercise, prompting a desperate search for survivors in the dark, near-freezing water.The plane was approaching Reagan National Airport at around 9:00 pm (0200 GMT) after flying from Wichita, Kansas, when the collision happened.American Airlines, whose subsidiary PSA Airlines operated the Bombardier regional jet, said “there were 60 passengers and four crew members on board the aircraft.”A US Army official said the helicopter involved was a Black Hawk carrying three soldiers — their status currently unknown. They had been on a “training flight,” a separate military spokesperson said in a statement.Washington police said “there is no confirmed information on casualties at this time.”However, a massive search and rescue operation was in progress, with divers visible in the glare of powerful lights as they plunged into the snow-lined Potomac to scour the wreckage of both aircraft.”We’re going to be out there as long as it takes, and we’re obviously trying to get to people as soon as possible, but we are going to recover our fellow citizens,” Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters.Washington Fire Chief John Donnelly said at a press briefing that emergency crews, totaling about 300 people, were working in “extremely rough” conditions and gave little indication they expected to find anyone alive.”We will re-evaluate where we are with the rescue operation in the morning, when we get a better sense of it,” Donnelly said.”But we are still out there working, and we’re going to continue that throughout the night.”Witness Ari Schulman was driving home when he saw what he described as “a stream of sparks” overhead.”Initially I saw the plane and it looked fine, normal. It was right about to head over land,” he told CNN.”Three seconds later, and at that point it was banked all the way to the right… I could see the underside of it, it was lit up a very bright yellow, and there was a stream of sparks underneath it,” Schulman added.”It looked like a Roman candle.”- Trump criticizes traffic control -President Donald Trump said in an official statement that he had been “fully briefed” and said of any victims, “may God bless their souls.” But less than four hours after the disaster — and while other officials stressed they were waiting for investigations to unfold — he returned to social media to critique air traffic control.”The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.”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!!!”The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the grounding of all planes at Reagan National and the airport was not due to reopen until 11:00 am (1600 GMT) Thursday.American Airlines’ chief executive issued a video statement in which he expressed “deep sorrow”, while US Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas called the collision “nothing short of a nightmare.”- Crowded airspace -Questions were expected to focus on how a passenger plane with modern collision-avoidance technology and nearby traffic controllers could collide with a military aircraft over the nation’s capital.The airspace around Washington is often crowded, with planes coming in low over the city to land at Reagan airport and helicopters — military, civilian and carrying senior politicians or officials — buzzing about both day and night.The same airport was the scene of a deadly crash in January 1982 when Air Florida Flight 90, a Boeing 737, took off but quickly plummeted, hitting the 14th Street bridge and crashing through the ice into the Potomac River. Seventy-eight people died.Investigators concluded the pilot had failed to activate sufficient de-icing procedures.The last major fatal US air accident was in 2009, when Continental Flight 3407 from New Jersey to Buffalo, New York crashed and killed all 49 people aboard.

A US passenger plane carrying 64 people crashed into Washington’s chilly Potomac River on Wednesday after colliding mid-air with a military helicopter near Reagan National Airport, prompting a major emergency response and the grounding of all flights.The plane had been about to land after flying from Kansas.American Airlines, whose subsidiary operated the flight, said “there were 60 passengers and four crew members on board the aircraft.”A US Army official said the helicopter was a Black Hawk model carrying three soldiers — their status currently unknown.Washington police said “there is no confirmed information on casualties at this time,” although a massive search and rescue operation was in progress. The Washington Post quoted unnamed sources saying police had started to pull multiple bodies from the Potomac.Witness Ari Schulman described “a stream of sparks” and what looked like a large firework when the nighttime collision erupted overhead as he drove home.”Initially I saw the plane and it looked fine, normal. It was right about to head over land,” he told CNN. “Three seconds later, and at that point it was banked all the way to the right… I could see the underside of it, it was lit up a very bright yellow, and there was a stream of sparks underneath it,” Schulman added. “It looked like a Roman candle.”President Donald Trump said he had been “fully briefed” on the accident and said of any victims, “may God bless their souls.” – Dark, near-freezing river -The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the grounding of all planes at Reagan National, and Washington’s police said on X that “multiple agencies” were responding to the crash site in the Potomac.Kristi Noem, the country’s new secretary of homeland security, posted on X that she was “deploying every available US Coast Guard resource for search and rescue efforts in this horrific incident at DCA.”Police said fireboats had joined the operation on the river, where any work was complicated by the fact it was dark and close to freezing. Dozens of fire trucks headed toward the airport and divers could be seen going off boats into the Potomac.The FAA said a Bombardier regional jet operated by American Airlines subsidiary PSA Airlines “collided in midair” with a Sikorsky UH-60 helicopter as it approached for landing at Reagan at around 9:00 pm (0200 GMT). The plane had left from Wichita, Kansas.US Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas said the collision was “nothing short of a nightmare.””I ask the world to join me in praying for Kansas this evening, the first responders, rescue crews, and all those involved in this horrific accident,” he wrote on X. “I have been in contact with local and national authorities asking for answers and will continue to demand more information on how this unfolded.”