Everyone aboard the commercial airplane that crashed Wednesday night in Arlington, Virginia is feared dead, local authorities announced after trying to find survivors and assessing the damage.
The airplane collided with a military vehicle as it was landing at Ronald Reagan International Airport, the D.C. area’s most active airport.
“Around 9 p.m. on Wednesday evening, emergency personnel at Reagan National Airport initiated their response to a crash between a passenger aircraft, identified by the FAA as American Eagle flight 5342, and a Sikorsky helicopter,” the airport said in a statement.
“Mutual aid from neighboring agencies were called to assist, and takeoffs and landings at the airport were halted for the remainder of the evening. We will continue to post information as it becomes available.”
Rescue crews had recovered the bodies of 28 crash victims as of early Thursday morning. No other survivors are expected to be found, which would make this the deadliest air crash in the U.S. in nearly 24 years.
“A PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet collided in midair with a Sikorsky H-60 helicopter while on approach to Runway 33 at Reagan Washington National Airport around 9 p.m. local time. PSA was operating as Flight 5342 for American Airlines. It departed from Wichita, Kansas. The FAA and NTSB will investigate. The NTSB will lead the investigation,” the FAA said in a statement Wednesday.
The crash occurred right after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was sworn in following his confirmation on Wednesday. The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are already investigating the collision and whether the aircrafts were in the correct flight paths.
Duffy did his best to reassure Americans during a Thursday morning press conference.
“Can I guarantee the American flying public that the United States has the most safe and secure airspace in the world? And the answer to that is, absolutely yes, we do,” he said. “We have early indicators of what happened here. And I will tell you, with complete confidence that we have the safest airspace in the world.”
Duffy has spoken to local and state officials including Washington, D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser (D) and Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin (R) to work together on investigating and responding to the incident.