No Filipinos reported hurt in air mishap — embassy

No Filipino has been reported hurt in the mid-air collision of a United States Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines commercial plane in the Potomac River near Arlington Virginia.

“Authorities are currently undertaking search and rescue operations. The White House has confirmed that a military helicopter collided with a commercial jet.”

“So far, the Embassy has not received reports of Filipinos involved in the incident,” the Philippine Embassy in Washington said in a statement on Wednesday (US time).

According to the embassy, it is closely monitoring the aviation incident near the Reagan National Airport, where the plane carrying 64 people was heading around 9 p.m. (0200 GMT) after flying from Wichita, Kansas.

Various US media reported that multiple bodies were pulled from the dark, and near-freezing Potomac River.

So far. At least 18 bodies had been recovered from the passenger jet that was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members.

The Washington Post, citing a statement from US Figure Skating organization, said several athletes, coaches and officials were aboard the flight.

A US Army official said the helicopter involved was a Black Hawk carrying three soldiers, with their status currently unknown. They had been on a “training flight,” a separate military spokesperson said in a statement.

A massive search and rescue operation was in progress, with divers visible in the glare of powerful lights as they plunged into the snow-lined Potomac to scour the wreckage of both aircraft.

“We’re going to be out there as long as it takes, and we’re obviously trying to get to people as soon as possible, but we are going to recover our fellow citizens,” Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters.

Washington Fire Chief John Donnelly said at a press briefing that emergency crews, totaling about 300 people, were working in “extremely rough” conditions and gave little indication they expected to find anyone alive.

“We will reevaluate where we are with the rescue operation in the morning, when we get a better sense of it,” Donnelly said. “But we are still out there working, and we’re going to continue that throughout the night.”

Witness Ari Schulman was driving home when he saw what he described as “a stream of sparks” overhead.

“Initially I saw the plane and it looked fine, normal. It was right about to head over land,” he told CNN.

“Three seconds later, and at that point it was banked all the way to the right... I could see the underside of it, it was lit up a very bright yellow, and there was a stream of sparks underneath it,” Schulman added.

“It looked like a Roman candle.”

Trump criticizes traffic control.

President Donald Trump said in an official statement that he had been “fully briefed” and said of any victims, “may God bless their souls.”

But less than four hours after the disaster — and while other officials stressed, they were waiting for investigations to unfold — he returned to social media to critique air traffic control.