What appears to be an aircraft engine belonging to American Airlines Flight 5432 was lifted out of the Potomac River on Monday morning, beginning the complex job of removing the last of the wreckage after a military helicopter collided with it and crashed last Wednesday.
Officials say that what remains of the jet needs to be removed from the crash site in order to recover all 67 victims who died in the midair collision in the Washington, D.C., area.
So far, 55 victims’ remains have been recovered. D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly told a news conference Sunday: “We’re going to recover everyone.”
“If we knew where they were, though, we would already have them out, so we have some work to do as the salvage operation goes on, and we will absolutely stay here and search until such point as we have everybody,” he added. Recovery workers have been battling difficult conditions with near-zero visibility in the dark waters.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, plans to lift the remains of the jet from the river in stages, a process that is expected to last three days. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said he will be present for the wreckage removal Monday.
The operation will use a crane barge, deck barges, dive boats and two surface-supplied dive systems, the army said in a statement.
The American Airlines engine was removed from the Potomac and placed into a barge.
The wreckage will be taken to a hangar for the National Transportation Safety Board to continue investigating the cause of the collision.
Then the recovery teams will turn their attention to the remains of the Black Hawk helicopter. The “large lifts” portion of the operation is expected to be finished by Saturday, with the clearance of other debris lasting until at least Feb. 12. An automatic stop on this work will be ordered when a body is discovered.
“The level of coordination both behind the scenes and out on the Potomac is exceptional,” Baltimore District Commander Col. Francis Pera said. “We have not and will not lose focus of what is most important — the safety of our crews and accounting for those still missing to bring closure to their families and loved ones.”
The recovery timeline is, however, dependent on the availability of lifts, as well as weather and the tides.
Caryn Littler contributed.
