Donald Trump confirms ‘there are no survivors’ in devastating Washington DC plane crash | LIVE updates

Washington DC plane crash LIVE updates: Ronald Reagan National Airport will remain closed until late Thursday morning, January 30, due to the tragedy. The Arlington, Va. airport is set to reopen with first flights taking off at 11 am, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority CEO Jack Potter has confirmed.

Washington DC plane crash LIVE updates: About 300 first responders are reportedly battling dark, cold and windy conditions while executing a "rescue operation” in Potomac River. “Our fire department, DC fire and EMS, supported by fire departments and police departments from across the metropolitan region are executing a rescue operation in the Potomac River,” Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser said. “They are working diligently in very dark, cold conditions – cold water – to execute this rescue operation."

DC Fire and EMS Chief John A. Donnelly revealed that “currently about 300 responders are working” from throughout the region, including the US Coast Guard. “The water that we're operating in is about eight feet deep. There is wind. There are pieces of ice out there. So it's just dangerous and hard to work in,” Donnelly added.

Washington DC plane crash LIVE updates: In a Truth Social post, president Donald Trump raised questions on the circustances around the tragedy. “The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport,” he wrote. “The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!”

Washington DC plane crash LIVE updates: D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly has confirmed that the search is now entirely on the waters of the Potomac River, and not overland. "We don't know if there are survivors," he said.

Donnelly added that first responders will work with the National Transportation Safety Board to help preserve evidence, even though their first priority is to look for survivors. "We will re-evaluate where we are with a rescue operation in the morning, when we get a better sense of it," he said.

Washington DC plane crash LIVE updates: The commercial plane involved in the crash split in two, it has been reported. NBC 4 Washington’s Mark Segraves said that two sources on the scene revealed that the American Airlines plane split in half. In fact, the aircraft is now seven feet under water in the Potomac River. Rescue efforts are underway.

Washington DC plane crash LIVE updates:American Airlines CEO Robert Isom has said that the company is “cooperating fully” with the federal investigation into the crash. "We're cooperating fully with the National Transportation Safety Board in its investigation, and will continue to provide all the information we can,” Isom said in a video statement posted on the company’s website.

“Our cooperation is without pause, and we want to learn everything we can about today's events,” he added. “That work will take time, but anything we can do now, we're doing."

An eyewitness who was driving home near the airport has described the horrifying crash. Ari Schulman was driving along the George Washington Parkway, which runs right by the airport, when the tragedy occurred. "You can always see these planes lined up to land. I always look at them when I’m driving home because it’s just a really interesting, kind of an elegant sight,” Schulman told NBC Washington.

Schulman said that he looked up and saw a plane roughly 120 to 150 feet in the air preparing to land, but when he looked back up moments later, “it looked very, very wrong.” “It looked to me like a giant Roman candle, sparks shooting from the head of the plane down to the tail. I saw that for about two seconds,” he said.

At least 18 bodies have been recovered from the Potomac River by emergency services following the crash, a police official has said, according to CBS News. No survivors have been found yet.

The FBI has said that it is aiding response to the crash by assisting local agencies. “The FBI Washington Field Office’s National Capital Response Squad is responding to an aviation incident at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in support of our law enforcement and public safety partners," the Washington field office said in a statement.

A military official told NBC News that the helicopter involved in the crash was participating in a training flight. “We can confirm that the aircraft involved in tonight’s incident was an Army UH-60 helicopter from Bravo Company, 12th Aviation Battalion, out of Davison Army Airfield, Fort Belvoir during a training flight," the official said.

The Association of Flight Attendants, which represents cabin crews at PSA Airlines, has confirmed in a statement that two flight attendants were on board the plane. “While we mobilize to support the families and crews directly affected by this incident, we are also sending strength to all first responders doing everything they can to bring survivors to safety,” union president Sara Nelson said.

D.C. Councilmember Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2), who said she is monitoring the crash, has stressed that the focus is on the “rescue mission” right now. “Then, we must get to the bottom of how this happened and protections we must put in place so this never happens again," she added in her statement.

People familiar with the situation have reportedly said that multiple bodies have been pulled by police from the Potomac after the crash apparently killed several individuals.

In a statement, president Donald Trump said he has been briefed on the "terrible accident which just took place at Reagan National Airport." "May God Bless their souls," he said in the statement posted on X by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Trump also thanked first responders and said he would "provide more details as they arise."

The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed the crash in a statement. While the FAA and NTSB will both investigate the crash, NTSB will be leading the investigation.