President Donald Trump addressed the nation after a passenger jet collided midair with an Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport.
During his news briefing on Thursday, Trump said, “Sadly, there are no survivors,” and called the tragedy “a dark and excruciating night in our nation’s capitol and in our nation’s history and a tragedy of terrible proportions.”
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The American Airlines plane was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members, and the U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter was carrying three people. The two aircraft collided on Wednesday night. The plane was traveling from Wichita, Kansas.
Recovery operations are continuing, with 28 bodies recovered, as of Thursday morning.
As the Associated Press writes, this is “likely to be the worst U.S. aviation disaster in almost a quarter century.”
The outlet added, “There was no immediate word on the cause of the collision.”
However, the president said that the U.S. military and the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.
“We’ll find out how this disaster occurred and will ensure that nothing like this ever happens again,” Trump said.
