Rescue and Salvage crews work in Arlington, Virginia near the remains of American Airlines jets on the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Sunday.
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Jose Luis Magana/AP
Authorities recovered the bodies of 55 of the 67 casualties killed after an American Airlines airliner collided at low altitudes near the Washington National Airport last week.
“It's my belief that we'll all recover,” DC Fire Chief John Donnelly said at a Sunday briefing on victim recovery efforts and debris removal.
Divers are still searching for the frigid Potomac River for the bodies of 12 people. The channel remains closed by an injustice ship.
All three members of the AA Flight 5342 and the Black Hawk helicopter were killed in a collision Wednesday night, killing the country's most deadly air collision 20 years later.
The process of lifting the wreckage out of the river begins on Monday.
“Our goal is to lift as much as possible given the fact that we consider the components of human remains,” said Colonel Francis Pella, Army Corps of Engineers.
Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board is leading an investigation into how the crash occurred.
The NTSB said on Saturday that a plane from Wichita approaching one of the DCA's three runways gave or took 325 feet, 25 feet on the impact. Early information suggests that Army helicopters are flying over 200 feet, according to an independent federal agency.
The helicopter is taking part in a training mission, and investigators are working to see if the crew were watching the night while flying through clear, dark skies.
The collision has renewed concerns about the level of air traffic congestion in the area. This leaves little room for error in the airspace above the major transport hubs that serve the country's capital regions.
