A DREARY cloud of mourning has descended on the spot where the burning remains of a helicopter and passenger plane sank with 67 people inside.
Video obtained exclusively by The US Sun shows brave crews desperately sifting through the Potomac River in Washington DC for bodies after the tragic crash that left no survivors.
On Wednesday evening before 9 pm, an American Airlines plane smashed into a Black Hawk that was hovering in the middle of its descent path.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has since confirmed that an “elevation issue” with the US Army-operated helicopter’s training mission led to the fiery explosion.
It’s the deadliest US air crash since November 2001, when 260 people died after an American Airlines plane plunged into a New York City neighborhood.
Washington DC’s ink-black waters and frigid temperatures left passengers with little chance of survival, as first responders quickly realized the rescue mission was a recovery operation.
Days later and with 40 bodies pulled, the dedicated crews are still searching for corpses as they navigate the shattered plane remnants that fell upside down into the murky river.
The U.S. Sun captured exclusive footage of the grim scene where divers continue to swim through the death-strewn waters.
On Friday, patrol boats braved drizzles of rain throughout the drawn-out search.
The U.S. Sun also spoke with anxious travelers at nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, where the doomed plane was headed.
Many of them described the ambient fear seeping through the lobby as they awaited flights.
Some fliers had to catch a plane just an hour after the airport reopened on Thursday morning, and they were all hesitant before walking toward TSA.
“I’m flying out, it’s pretty tragic,” Abhi, a 25-year-old flier, told The U.S. Sun.
“I fly regularly and so it does make me feel a little bit more aware than I usually do when I’m flying.
“So, definitely I feel a little bit more aware and scared, but you got to keep going and got to move on you know.”
Another concerned traveler described texting his sister all night after her flight was rerouted from Arkansas to New York because of the crash.
“She’s very concerned. She’s been texting me the whole time,” Carlos Estrada said.
“It makes me uneasy. We’re all here hurting in some ways.”
SEARCH FOR ANSWERS
A furious President Donald Trump has launched a search for answers and is blasting the US Army for the crash.
According to now-disturbing flight records, the Black Hawk was cruising through “helicopter alley,” which earned its name from being a pre-approved route for Army missions.
The helicopter pilot contacted the Reagan Airport’s air traffic controller for permission to use the area and was told it was safe to proceed as long as they hovered below 200 feet in the skies.
However, the Black Hawk proceeded to fly at 300 feet in the air, right into the pathway of the descending plane.
In a cutting Truth Social post, Trump voiced his shock at how there could have been such a deadly oversight by the pilots.
“The Black Hawk helicopter was flying too high, by a lot,” wrote the president.
“It was far about the 200-foot limit. That’s not really too complicated to understand, is it?”
As of Friday, the FAA has banned helicopters from flying in areas around the airport.
VICTIMS NAMED
Children, world-class athletes, and a group of hunting buddies were all on the plane that came crashing into a deadly spiral.
A large portion of the flight from Wichita, Kansas, was coming from the US National Championships for ice skating.
Teen skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Lane boarded the plane with their mothers and their coaches – Russian couple Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.
Little sisters Alydia and Everly Livingston, who were 11 and 14 years old, were also on the doomed flight.
Another victim, 30-year-old Kiah Duggins, was a former Miss Kansas contestant and Harvard Law graduate who previously worked as an intern for Michelle Obama.
Washington DC plane crash victims
A mid-air collision between American Airlines flight 5342 and a military helicopter on January 29, 2025, left dozens presumed dead. The victims include:
- Captain Jonathan Campos, 34
- First Officer Samuel Lilley, 28
- Flight attendant Ian Epstein, 53
- Flight attendant Danasia Brown
- Spencer Lane, 16
- Christine Lane, 49
- Jinna Han, 13
- Jin Han
- Evgenia Shishkova, 52
- Vadim Naumov, 55
- Alexandr Kirsanov
- Angela Yang
- Sean Kay
- Peter Livingston
- Donna Smojice Livingston
- Everly Livingston, 14
- Alydia Livingston, 11
- Inna Volyanskaya
- Brielle Beyer, 12,
- Justyna Magdalena Beyer
- Olivia Eve Ter, 12
- Asra Hussain Raza, 26
- Michael Stovall, 40
- Jesse Pitcher, 30
- Elizabeth Anne Keys, 33
- Wendy Jo Shaffer
- Kiah Duggins
- Casey Crafton
- Lori Schrock, 56
- Robert Schrock, 58
- Vikesh Patel
- Grace Maxwell, 20
- Black Hawk Staff Sgt. Ryan O’Hara, 28
- Black Hawk Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves, 39
Two of the three soldiers onboard the Black Hawk have been named as Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves and Crew Chief Ryan O’Hara, 28.
The third soldier’s identity wasn’t released at the request of their family.
The first officer of the American Airlines flight was named as Sam Lilley, a 28 year old who was newly engaged.
According to his heartbroken dad, he was in the “prime of his life.”
“I was so proud when Sam became a pilot. Now it hurts so bad I can’t even cry myself to sleep,” he wrote on Facebook.
“It is so devastating to lose someone that is loved so much.”
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