DC plane crash updates: Dive teams ending operations, sources say

Boats work the scene in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

(ABC NEWS)– 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 expected amid the extremely cold and windy conditions.

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

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

President Donald Trump called the crash a “tragedy of terrible proportions.”

“Our hearts are shattered,” Trump said in a press briefing at the White House, after holding a moment of silence. “Our prayers are with you now and in the days to come.”

Washington, D.C.’s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport has reopened Thursday morning, about 14 hours after the devastating crash.

Dive teams are ceasing operations on the Potomac River because they have recovered all of the bodies they’re able to without moving the fuselage, two sources familiar with the operation told ABC News.

About 40 bodies have been recovered so far, including at least one of the soldiers from the Army helicopter, the sources said.

Additional bodies and human remains will need to be extracted from the wreckage once it is lifted to the surface of the river.

Crews are bracing for the possibility that some of the victims will not be recovered because of the fireball that resulted from the collision, the sources said.