Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and other officials held a press briefing on Thursday (Jan 30) at the Reagan National Airport on the Washington, DC, crash.

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John Donnelly, the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Chief, Washington, DC, said, "We don't believe there are any survivors from this accident, and we have recovered 27 people from their plane and one from the helicopter. We are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation."

"I speak for all of us when I say, and certainly all Washingtonians, how, very sad we are. This morning we all share in a profound sense of grief. I do want to thank the first responders who acted quickly last night, who ran towards danger, went into a very frigid river, and have worked throughout the night," Mayor Muriel Bowser said.

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said that they could not ascertain "why the military aircraft came into the path of the PSA aircraft."

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"This was a clear night, last night. The helicopter was in a standard pattern .... the American Airlines flight coming into land was in a standard flight pattern. The fuselage of the American airline plane was inverted. It's been located in three different sections. It's in about waist deep water," said US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

What happened?

An American Airlines regional jet carrying 64 people and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter collided in mid-air before both crashed into the Potomac River on Wednesday (Jan 29) night. According to local media reports citing a police official, at least 30 bodies have been recovered.

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(With inputs from agencies)