Search crews on Tuesday recovered the final remains of 67 people who died in Washington last week after a collision between a passenger jet and a U.S. Army helicopter. The authorities said that all but one of the bodies had been identified.
“Our hearts are with the victims’ families as they navigate this tragic loss,” officials for city agencies involved in the recovery effort said in a statement on Tuesday. “We extend our deepest condolences and remain committed to supporting them through this difficult time.”
Salvage crews are still working in the river’s cold, murky waters to remove the wreckage of American Airlines Flight 5342, seeking clues that will help investigators understand what caused the deadliest air crash in the United States in 20 years.
The plane, a regional jet flying from Wichita, Kan., to Reagan National Airport, had been carrying 64 people. The victims included four crew members, seven hunting buddies and 28 people returning from an elite figure skating camp.
The three soldiers inside the helicopter, a UH-60 Black Hawk that had been operating out of Fort Belvoir, Va., also died in the crash.
Salvage crews have retrieved two “black boxes” from the plane — a flight data recorder and a cockpit voice recorder — and one from the helicopter, which could help them learn more about what happened in the moments before the crash.
Officials have said that they expect the entire recovery operation, including the clearance of remaining debris, to be completed by Feb. 12.
Investigators are trying to answer questions about the flight paths, and whether staffing at the air traffic control tower at Reagan National contributed to the collision.
A preliminary report by the Federal Aviation Administration, which was reviewed by The New York Times, found that a controller working that night was performing jobs typically assigned to two controllers, and that staffing at the tower was “not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic.”
The Army helicopter had been approved to fly a specific route that would have let it avoid the American Airlines plane. But it did not follow the intended route, according to four people who were briefed on the matter but not authorized to speak publicly. The route it took was a half-mile away and higher in altitude, they said.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board, an independent federal agency, are leading the inquiry into the collision.
Campbell Robertson contributed reporting.