Scuba divers fight hypothermia to recover plane crash victims

Arlington, Virginia: Families of victims of the deadliest US air disaster since 2001 visited the crash site at the weekend and divers scoured the submerged wreckage for more remains after authorities said they had recovered and identified 55 of the 67 people killed.

Family members of those killed in the Washington crash were taken in buses with a police escort to the Potomac River bank near where the two aircraft came to rest after colliding.Credit: AP

Washington Fire and Emergency Medical Services Chief John Donnelly said officials were confident all would be found. Divers are working diligently to locate remains as crews prepare to lift wreckage from the chilly Potomac River as early as Monday morning (Tuesday AEDT) Donnelly said at a news conference.

Colonel Francis Pera of the Army Corps of Engineers said divers and salvage workers were adhering to strict protocols and would stop moving debris if a body was found. The “dignified recovery” of remains took precedence over all else, he said.

“Reuniting those lost in this tragic incident is really what keeps us all going,” Pera said. “We’ve got teams that have been working this effort since the beginning, and we’re committed to making this happen.”

Divers had high-definition cameras with feeds monitored on support boats, Pera said, putting “four or five sets of eyes” inside the wreckage.

Due to the frigid conditions, one diver was treated at a hospital for hypothermia, Donnelly said.

Portions of the two aircraft that collided over the river on Wednesday night near Reagan Washington National Airport – an American Airlines jet with 64 people aboard and an Army Black Hawk helicopter with three aboard – will be loaded onto trucks and taken to a hangar for investigation.

Separately, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said three people injured on the ground when a Mexico-bound air ambulance crashed in a busy Philadelphia neighbourhood on Friday, killing seven people, remained in a critical condition.

Parker said 22 people were injured and five of them remain in hospital. At least 11 homes were significantly damaged, along with some businesses.

“Our city continues to mourn their loss and they are in our thoughts and prayers,” Parker said of the deceased.

Family members of those killed in the Washington crash were taken in buses with a police escort to the Potomac River bank near where the two aircraft came to rest after colliding. The jet, en route from Wichita, Kansas, was about to land. The Black Hawk was on a training mission. There were no survivors.

Federal investigators are working to piece together the events that led to the collision.

The National Transportation Safety Board did not hold a press briefing on Sunday, but did release a photograph showing investigators on a small boat looking at wreckage and another of them examining a flight data recorder.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he wanted to give investigators space to conduct their inquiry. But he posed a range of questions on Sunday morning TV news programs.

“What was happening inside the towers? Were they understaffed? … The position of the Black Hawk, the elevation of the Black Hawk, were the pilots of the Black Hawk wearing night vision goggles?” Duffy asked on CNN.

Army Staff Sergeant Ryan Austin O’Hara, 28, of Lilburn, Georgia; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, 39, of Great Mills, Maryland; and Captain Rebecca Lobach, of Durham, North Carolina, were in the helicopter.

The plane’s passengers included figure skaters returning from the 2025 US Figure Skating Championships in Wichita and a group of hunters returning from a guided trip.

The NTSB said on Saturday that preliminary data showed conflicting readings about the altitudes of the airliner and the helicopter.

Investigators also said that about a second before impact, the jet’s flight recorder showed a change in its pitch. But they did not say whether that change in angle meant that pilots were trying to perform an evasive manoeuvre to avoid the crash.

Data from the jet’s flight recorder showed its altitude as 325 feet (99 metres), plus or minus 25 feet, when the crash happened, NTSB officials said. Data in the control tower, though, showed the Black Hawk at 200 feet, the maximum allowed altitude for helicopters in the area.

The discrepancy has yet to be explained. Investigators said they hoped to reconcile the difference with data from the helicopter’s black box and planned to refine the tower data, which can be less reliable.

“This is a complex investigation,” investigator in charge Brice Banning said. “There are a lot of pieces here.” Banning said the jet’s cockpit voice recorder captured sound moments before the crash.

“The crew had a verbal reaction,” Banning said, and the flight data recorder showed the plane beginning to increase its pitch. “Sounds of impact were audible about one second later, followed by the end of the recording.”

Full investigations typically take a year or more. Investigators hope to have a preliminary report within 30 days.

AP

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