Officials recover 42 remains from Potomac River as investigation into midair collision continues

Washington, D.C., officials released updates about the investigation of the Jan. 29 Potomac River midair collision on Saturday, detailing what bodies and debris have been removed from the water.

In a statement released on Saturday, Unified Command said that rescuers have recovered "42 sets of remains" from the crash area so far, and the D.C. chief medical examiner has positively identified 38.

Sixty-seven people died in the incident.

Officials also said that they attempted to remove the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter with a crane, which was "briefly stabilized," but that the removal has not been successful so far.

"The U.S. Coast Guard is on the scene with numerous resources assisting with search efforts and enforcing a safety zone on the Potomac River," the statement read. 

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"Today, salvage crews from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Navy's Supervisor of Salvage and Diving are assessing the area and preparing for the recovery of the aircraft," the statement added. "Divers from the salvage company are surveying the wreckage throughout the day."

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Baltimore District also released a timeline of the recovery operations, which is expected to begin Monday and end Feb 12.

"The operations are expected to commence Feb. 3, pending results of detailed salvage surveys that will determine the full breadth of the debris field and allow for creation of a lift plan that addresses large wreckage," the statement read. "The initial focus is removal of the remnants of the regional jet, which is expected to take three days."

 "Following recovery of the jet, crews will shift to recovery of the Black Hawk helicopter and associated wreckage. Upon completion of large lifts, on or around Feb. 8, crews will focus on clearing the remaining debris field with salvage baskets before demobilizing equipment by Feb. 12."

In a news conference early Saturday evening, officials said that they were "working through the transcript of the air traffic control," according to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member Todd Inman.

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"Both the airplane and the helicopter would hear any air traffic control, but they would not hear the other aircraft or helicopter," Inman explained. "I bring that up because we are now working through the transcript of the air traffic control, and many people have heard different recordings [online]."

"Those do not contain the UHF (ultra-high frequency) radio transmissions…as we synchronize the timing on that, we hope to be able to release them [Sunday]."

Officials were also unable to confirm if the crew members in the Black Hawk helicopter were wearing night vision goggles at the time of the incident.

"We can verify it was on a training flight that would utilize night vision goggles," Inman said. "We do not know at this time if the night vision goggles were actively being worn, nor what the setting may be. Further investigation should be able to let us know if that occurred and what it may factor. It may play in the overall accident."

Also on Saturday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy released a video on X stating that he has recently spoken to family members of the victims, saying that their pain is "unimaginable."

"When I know information, I'm going to share with them, but also with the American people," Duffy said. "Yesterday, we restricted the airspace around DCA from helicopter travel, making sure people feel safe as they come in and out of our capital city in the coming days."

"We're going to have more announcements. I want Americans to feel confident in American air travel."