Rescuers combing the waters of the Potomac River just off the runway from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia are tragically coming up empty following a collision between a US Army Blackhawk with three soldiers on board and a Bombardier CRJ700 carrying 60 passengers and four crew inbound from Wichita, Kansas Thursday night, WUSA reports.
At least 19 bodies have been pulled from the water so far. It’s the first major incident in American aviation since 2009, when a regional jet crashed near Buffalo, killing all 49 on board and one on the ground. Officials with the US Figure Skating organization on Thursday issued a statement that “several members of our skating community” were among the passengers onboard the plane.