The National Transportation Safety Board on Thursday (Jan 30) announced that the flight data and cockpit voice recorders have been recovered from the passenger jet that crashed into Washington's Potomac River after a deadly mid-air collision with a military helicopter late on Wednesday (Jan 29).
The recording devices commonly known as black boxes were recovered from the crashed plane operated by an American Airlines subsidiary.
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The recorders would now be analysed by the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation.
In a statement to AFP, the agency said that the black boxes "are at the NTSB labs for evaluation".
This comes as US President Donald Trump sought to politicise the tragedy by blaming 'diversity' for the accident that has claimed the lives of 67.
Trump politicises crash
The American president, who took office 10 days ago, sought to politicise the accident during a White House press conference.
Addressing the press, Trump, as per AFP, turned the disaster into a platform for his crusade against diversity, equity, and inclusion or DEI.
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He accused his democratic predecessors, Joe Biden and Barack Obama, of having kept good employees out of the aviation agency all in the name of "diversity".
"They actually came out with a directive: 'too white.' And we want the people that are competent," claimed Trump.
Slamming Biden's openly gay transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, Trump claimed, "He's run it right into the ground with his diversity.
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Trump's claims were reinforced by US Vice President JD Vance and new defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, who both took turns at the podium and without evidence pandered to the hard-right theory that diversity measures keep capable Americans out of responsible jobs.
In what was the deadliest US air disaster since November 2001, an American Eagle Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas carrying 64 people and a military helicopter, a Black Hawk with three aboard collided mid-air before crashing into Washington's Potomac River. All 67 are presumed to have died in the crash.
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The identities of all the victims are still unknown, but among them were several promising young figure skaters and their coaches. According to Senator Maria Cantwell, the dead also included citizens from Russia, the Philippines and Germany, and Chinese state media Xinhua reported two Chinese citizens had been killed in the crash.
(With inputs from agencies)