
Rescuers on a boat work next to the wreckage of the Black Hawk helicopter that crashed into an aeroplane, in the Potomac River, outside Washington, the US, January 30 2025. — Reuters
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President Donald Trump has claimed without any evidence, claiming that federal diversity efforts could be linked to a deadly crash on Thursday, when a regional jet collided with a US military helicopter at Washington Airport, which In more than 20 years, 67 people were killed in US air destruction. Year
An investigation into the crash in the country’s capital has just begun and it is not yet clear that the US Airlines bombarded by 60 passengers and four crew members collided with the Army Black Hawk helicopter when they Reagan Washington National Hawaii Ready to get to the base.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said both aircraft have been flying standard flight samples and there has been no malfunction in communication.
Radio communication shows that air traffic controllers informed the helicopter about the nearby jet and ordered it to change the course. There is no evidence that efforts to make the federal workforce more diverse have compromised with air security.
At a White House news conference, Trump criticized the helicopter pilots, saying he did not know with the conviction that the air traffic controllers involved had been held responsible.
“We do not know what the cause of the accident, but we have some strong opinions and ideas,” he said.
In the US capital, three commercial airports and several major military facilities are often crowded at the airplane, and officials have raised concerns about the runway at the Reagan National Airport, just crossing the river from Washington. There have been nearly a number of incidents that have given birth to the alarm, including a close confrontation in May 2024.
The lack of air traffic controllers in the United States in recent years has promoted safety concerns.
Trump accused his democratic predecessor, Biden of reducing employment standards and suggested that the pressure to diversity of the Federal Aviation Administration could undermine its abilities.
Asked if the accident was due to the diversity services, he said: “This could have happened.” The administration has not provided any evidence to back the claims.
Trump has stepped up to end federal diversity measures since taking office on January 20, criticizing rights supporters who are afraid that the United States is to overcome the history of his discrimination. Has surpassed progress.
Trump reads as a FAA document that states that physical and mental disability will not disqualify applicants as a controller. According to Biden’s Transport Secretary, Pett Batigig assistants, the document was released in 2013 and remained online through the term of Trump’s early 2017-2021 White House.
Batigig responded to Trump on X, and despised his remarks. “As families grieve, Trump should not be lying.”
The cause of the accident is unclear
Trump’s remarks are rapidly contradictory to other officials, saying there was no immediate indication of the accident why the accident took place.
American Airlines CEO Robert Iceom said the US Eagle Flight Pilot 5342 had a Six six -year flight experience. The Bombardar CrJ-700 jet was done by PSA Airlines, a regional subsidiary. It had 60 passengers and four staff members.
Secretary Defense Pete Hegsith said the helicopter was blown up by the “quite experienced crew” of three soldiers who were wearing a knight vision springs in the annual skill training flight. Officials said they were offering other flights from the Army Unit involved in the accident and would recover training exercises in the region.
Flight passengers included ice skirts, family and coaches who returned from a training camp in the Waketa city of Kansas, including former Russian -born world champions Yijenia Shashkova and Wadimam Namov.
The final attempt with the helicopter before the recording of the air traffic control is hit by the jet appears to be occupying the call signpat25.
“Pat25, do you have a CRJ in sight? Pat25, passing behind CRJ,” says an air traffic controller on Wednesday at 8:47 pm (0147 GMT), according to a recording on liveatc.net.
‘Fireball’
After seconds, another plane emphasized the air traffic control, “Tower, did you see it?” – Apparently referring to the accident. Then a air traffic controller redirects the aircraft to the runway 33 to move around.
“I just saw a fireball and just gone,” says an air traffic controller. I have not seen anything since hitting the river.
The collision and an explosion in the accident webcam video brought the sky overnight.
The governing body was returning from a Waketa training camp on the board, the US figure skating said.
“Skating is a very close and tough community.” He told reporters that the club and two of their mothers associated with their mothers were also aboard the plane. “We have lost the family,” he said.
Russia’s mesh news outlet published a list of 13 skisters, many of them Russian immigrants to the United States, who are believed to be on the plane.
The Kremlin offered condolences to the families of the dead Russians.
The accident is not the first time that the US Scotters were killed by the air tragedy. All 18 members of the US national team, with family members and coaches, were killed in February 1961 when a flight under Belgian Airlines Sabina crashed outside Brussels, killing all 72 people. –
Washington’s DC Fire Chief Donley said the situation was cold and sharp, which has made the operation “extremely rough” for 300 respondents at the scene.
CBS News reports that a Dumbi team has recovered the so -called Black Box from one of the two data recorders.
Virginia Governor Glenn Yingkin told Reuters that the bodies of most persons involved in the collision were recovered. “Everything was normal to the extent of the accident,” he said. “Something went wrong.”
It was the deadliest catastrophe of US air catastrophe since November 2001, when an American airline jet crashed after leaving New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, all 260 on the ship. People and five people were killed on the ground.
Reagan National’s main runway is the busiest in the United States, with more than 800 take -off and landing daily. Records show that the National Transportation Safety Board has investigated nine accidents or incidents at the airport in this century, two of which were deadly.
The airport is only two miles from the White House and half a mile from the Pentagon, where al -Qaeda’s hijackers fell on US Airlines flight 77 on September 11, 2001.
Virginia’s US Senator Tim Kine said he was worried about a long -standing airspace, where civilian and military aircraft would have to visit the US capital’s unique security concerns.
He told reporters, “I am praying that nothing is like last night but I am scared in my heart.”