Wreckage from the deadly midair collision near Reagan National Airport will start to be removed from the Potomac River Monday morning as officials said they have yet to locate 12 of the victims.
The collision between a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter and a Bombardier CRJ700 airliner operating under PSA Airlines, a subsidiary of American Airlines, on Wednesday night left 67 dead. D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly, Sr. told reporters Sunday that the remains of 55 victims have been identified, as the recovery effort continues.
“We believe we’re going to be able to recover all of the victims. But no, we don’t know where they all are at this point,” Donnelly said ahead of Monday’s operation.
Col. Francis Pera from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers said he anticipates “a successful lift,” noting they will cover the wreckage with a tent to protect any human remains.
55 VICTIMS IN WASHINGTON, DC MIDAIR COLLISION PULLED FROM POTOMAC RIVER
Wreckage is seen in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, on Thursday, Jan. 30. (Petty Officer 1st Class Brandon Giles, U.S. Coast Guard via AP)
“We do have a process where we will be watching the lift as it happens,” Pera explained. “And then if there are remains in there, that will not move while we’re recovering the wreckage. We will bring that wreckage to the surface of the barge. Our process [is] to immediately tent the barge to make sure that we have full discretion.”
“When we begin the lift process tomorrow, our goal is to really lift as much as we can – given the fact that we are also accounting for the human remains component – and then our goal is to then transfer that, those pieces of equipment over to a flatbed trailer that will now take it over to a designated hangar, so that the investigation can begin,” he added.
THIRD SOLDIER INSIDE BLACK HAWK HELICOPTER INVOLVED IN DC MIDAIR COLLISION IDENTIFIED
An American Airlines jet passes as family members of the victims of a midair collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter stand at the end of runway 33 near the wreckage site in the Potomac River at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, on Sunday, Feb. 2, in Arlington, Va. (AP/Jose Luis Magana)
Pera said divers at the site are equipped with HD cameras, whose feeds are being monitored inside a support boat.
“So you honestly, you’ve got four or five sets of eyes looking inside [the] wreckage at the same time,” he said.
Pera also said that “reuniting those lost in the tragic incident is really what keeps us all going.”
“We’ve got teams that have been working this effort since the beginning and we’re committed to making this happen,” he said.
On Sunday, families of the victims visited the crash site.
Connolly said while the lift operation is ongoing, local teams “will continue to search down the shorelines and around the river to make sure that we’re getting all the debris that’s out there.”
Emergency response units search the crash site of the American Airlines plane on the Potomac River on Thursday, Jan. 30. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
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“And if by chance, as a member of the public, you come across some of that, you should call 911 and report it to them, and we will get it taken care of and get it examined,” he said.
