US President Donald Trump has apparently blamed the air traffic control after a passenger plane carrying 64 passengers, including four crew members, crashed into a river in Washington following a mid-air collision with an army helicopter.
The American Airlines plane collided with the helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
Following the crash, an audio of the control tower asking the helicopter if they saw the plane, went viral. Referring to the audio, Trump asked why the control tower didn’t tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if it saw the plane.
“The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“It is a clear night, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn’t the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane. This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. Not good!!!” he added.
So far, 18 bodies have been recovered from the Potomac River and a search operation is currently underway to find the survivors.
Meanwhile, the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport has grounded all flights because of the crash.