Officials briefed by law enforcement told The Associated Press on Friday that over 40 bodies have been recovered from the river in an ongoing recovery operation. These officials, who requested anonymity as they were unauthorized to divulge investigation details, shared this information.
One of the worst air disasters in the United States happened on Wednesday. This incident is the deadliest since November 12, 2001, when an American Airlines flight crashed into a residential area in Belle Harbour, New York, shortly after departing from Kennedy Airport, resulting in the deaths of all 260 individuals on board and five individuals on the ground.
The most recent significant fatal crash involving a US commercial airline took place in 2009 near Buffalo, New York. In this tragic event, all passengers on the Bombardier DHC-8 propeller airplane lost their lives, along with one person on the ground, making the total death count 50.
Just over 24 hours before the fatal collision, a different regional jet had to go around for a second chance at landing at Reagan National after it was advised about a military helicopter nearby, according to flight tracking sites and control logs. It landed safely minutes later.
