Crews return to Potomac River to recover wreckage from Washington air disaster

Crews are back at the Potomac River to retrieve the submerged wreckage of an airliner and an army helicopter that collided in mid-air last week in the deadliest US air disaster since 2001.

Authorities have recovered and identified 55 of the 67 people killed in the crash and Washington DC Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly has said they are confident all will be found.

Crews began the work of lifting the wreckage on Monday using a vessel with a crane.

More than 300 responders are taking part in the recovery effort at any given time, officials said. Two navy barges were also deployed to lift heavy wreckage.

Divers and salvage workers are adhering to strict protocols and will stop moving debris if a body is found, said Colonel Francis B Pera of the Army Corps of Engineers.

The “dignified recovery” of remains takes precedence over everything else, he added.

Two aircraft collided over the river on Wednesday night near Reagan Washington National Airport: an American Airlines jet with 64 people aboard and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter with three aboard. There were no survivors.

The wreckage will be loaded on to flatbed trucks and taken to a hangar for investigation.

The crash occurred when the jet, en route from Wichita, Kansas, was about to land. The Black Hawk was on a training mission.

On Sunday, family members were taken in buses with a police escort to the river bank near where the two aircraft came to rest after colliding.

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

The three in the helicopter were 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 M Lobach, of Durham, North Carolina.

Federal investigators are working to piece together the events that led to the collision. Full investigations typically take a year or more, but investigators hope to have a preliminary report within 30 days.

Wednesday’s crash was the deadliest in the US since November 12 2001 when a jet slammed into a New York City neighbourhood just after takeoff, killing all 260 people on board and five on the ground.

Experts stress that plane travel is overwhelmingly safe, but the crowded air space around Reagan Airport can challenge even experienced pilots.