U.S. authorities said on Thursday it was not yet clear why a regional jet crashed into a U.S. Army helicopter at a Washington airport, killing 67 people in the deadliest U.S. air disaster in more than 20 years, APA reports citing Reuters.
President Donald Trump, without providing evidence, said that federal diversity efforts could have been a factor, reiterating a theme that has become a focus of his presidency. Rights groups and Democrats accused him of politicizing the disaster.
The investigation into the crash, opens new tab in the nation's capital has just begun. The American Airlines Bombardier jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided with the Army Black Hawk helicopter and crashed into the Potomac River as it prepared to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday night.
The names of all the victims have not yet been released, but they included a number of promising young figure skaters and people from Kansas, where the flight originated. Senator Maria Cantwell said that the dead on the plane included citizens from Russia, the Philippines and Germany.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators said they would have a preliminary report within 30 days. Investigators recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the Bombardier CRJ700 airplane, NTSB said.
The agency has begun collecting wreckage, including portions of the helicopter, and is storing it at a hangar at Reagan National. Washington's fire and emergency department said its divers had searched all accessible areas and would conduct additional searches to locate aircraft components on Friday.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said both aircraft had been flying standard flight patterns on Wednesday and there had been no breakdown in communication.
"Everything was routine up to the point of the accident," Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin told Reuters. The airport is located just across the river from Washington in Virginia.
At the White House, Trump criticized the helicopter pilots and suggested air traffic controllers were to blame.
"We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas," he said.
Radio communications showed that air traffic controllers alerted the helicopter about the approaching jet and ordered it to change course.
One controller rather than two was handling local plane and helicopter traffic on Wednesday night at Reagan National, a situation deemed "not normal" but considered adequate for lower volumes of traffic, according to a person briefed on the matter.
The decision to combine duties in the evening is not uncommon, the source said. The New York Times first reported the "not normal" designation.
A shortage of air traffic controllers in the United States in recent years has spurred safety concerns. At several facilities, controllers work mandatory overtime and six-day work weeks to cover shortages. The Federal Aviation Administration has about 3,000 fewer controllers than it says it needs.
