Crews will start clearing the wreckage Monday of an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter that collided midair from the Potomac River near Washington, D.C., last week. The Army Corps of Engineers will work alongside the Coast Guard and the Navy Supervisor of Salvage and Diving.
They will start by removing the jet’s remnants from the water. This process will take three days. Once completed, crews will work to retrieve the Black Hawk wreckage from the river.
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Haulers will take the wreckage to a National Transportation Safety Board hangar for investigators to inspect as they work to determine what led to the deadly collision near Reagan National Airport last Wednesday, Jan. 29.
This comes as the search continues for the remains of all those killed in the crash. Federal authorities said searchers have recovered and identified the remains of 55 of the 67 people killed in the collision.
Authorities expect to recover all bodies. However, low visibility in the frigid water and the strewn-about wreckage of both aircraft are slowing the process.
The Corps of Engineers said the goal is to have everything removed by next Wednesday, Feb. 12. However, if any remains are found while the wreckage is getting removed, work will immediately cease.
Col. Francis Pera, the commander of the Corps of Engineers Baltimore District, said “the dignified recovery of missing flight passengers and personnel takes precedence” over the extraction timeline.
On Sunday, Feb. 2, an emotional scene played out when victim families gathered for a memorial on the airport runway at the edge of the Potomac River, viewing the site where their loved ones died.
