American Airlines jet found upside down and in three pieces after mid-air collision in Washington DC

An American Airlines plane was found upside down and in three sections after colliding mid-air with a military helicopter over a major river in Washington DC.

A total of 28 bodies - 27 from the passenger plane and one from the helicopter - have been recovered from the Potomac River after the two aircraft fell into the icy waters around 9pm local time (2am UK time) on Wednesday night.

American Airlines flight 5342, which had 60 passengers and four crew on board, was flying into the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport from Wichita in Kansas when the collision took place.

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The US army Black Hawk helicopter, which had three soldiers on board, was on a training flight at the time.

An initial search and rescue mission to look for survivors became a recovery operation on Thursday morning, Washington DC fire chief John Donnelly said in an update at around 7.30am local time.

"We don't believe there are any survivors," he said.

US Figure Skating, the national governing body for the sport in the US, said in a statement that several members of its skating community were on the passenger plane.

It said the athletes and coaches were returning home from a training camp in Kansas.

Doug Zeghibe, chief executive of The Skating Club of Boston, said he believes 14 skaters who were returning from Kanas were "lost" in the plane crash.

"Of those 14 skaters, six were from the Skating Club of Boston. Two coaches and two teenage athletes, and two of the athletes' mums," he said.

Two of the victims have been named as championship figure skaters Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.

Read more:
What we know so far about the collision
World champion skaters 'on board' - who were the passengers?
Air traffic control heard diverting planes

The married couple from Russia won the world championship in pairs figure skating in 1994 and were working as coaches at the club in Boston.

The Kremlin said in a statement on Thursday morning: "Bad news from Washington today. We regret and offer condolences to the families and friends who lost those of our fellow citizens who died in this plane crash."

US President Donald Trump thanked first responders for their "incredible work", and said he was "monitoring the situation and will provide more details as they arise", in a statement late on Wednesday.

He added: "May God bless their souls."

Sir Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy also sent their condolences to the families of those on board and the emergency responders.

Crash 'absolutely preventable'

The collision occurred in some of the most tightly controlled and monitored airspace in the world, just over three miles south of the White House and the US Capitol.

Officials have not yet said what they believe caused the collision, with American Airlines chief executive Robert Isom saying they do not know why the military aircraft came into the path of the plane.

Transport secretary Sean Duffy said the wreckage of the plane was found upside down in three sections in waist-deep water. The wreckage of the helicopter was also found.

He said he believes the crash was "absolutely preventable" and both aircraft were on "standard flight patterns" and had "standard communication" before the crash.

A few minutes before landing, air traffic controllers asked the American Airlines flight if it could land on the shorter Runway 33 at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the pilots said they were able to.

Controllers then cleared the plane to land on Runway 33.

Flight tracking sites showed the plane circled around to approach the new runway from the south, while the helicopter was approaching from the north.

Pete Hegseth, who was sworn in as US defence secretary only days ago, said an investigation into the crash had started "immediately".

(c) Sky News 2025: American Airlines jet found upside down and in three pieces after mid-air collision in Wa