DC Plane Crash: 55 of 67 Victims Recovered from River After Black Hawk Collision

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More victims of the fatal American Airlines and Black Hawk helicopter crash have been recovered and identified.

Washington D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly announced Sunday evening that 55 out of the 67 victims of the deadliest U.S. air disaster since 2001 have now been identified, up from the previously confirmed 42.

According to sources, the Black Hawk was supposed to follow “Route 4″—a designated flight path at Reagan National Airport that keeps helicopters below 200 feet to avoid conflicts with incoming commercial jets.

However, the military aircraft, identified as PAT-25, was reportedly flying above 300 feet and at least a half-mile off course when it collided with American Airlines Flight 5342 on Wednesday evening, resulting in the deaths of everyone onboard.

Authorities will continue searching the Potomac River for the remains of the remaining passengers aboard Flight 5342 on Wednesday night. The victims included entire families, young ice skaters, a college student, and all four crew members.

D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly expressed confidence that the recovery teams will eventually locate the remains of the 12 remaining victims. However, he acknowledged uncertainty about their exact locations, according to NBC News.

‘If we knew where they were, though, we would already have taken them out,’ he insisted. ‘So we have some work to do as this salvage operation goes on, and we will absolutely stay here and search until such point as we have everybody.’

‘Reuniting those lost in this tragic incident is really what keeps us all going,’ Col. Francis B. Pera of the Army Corps of Engineers added.

Crew members are set to carry out a “lifting operation” on Monday to remove the wreckage from the Potomac River.

Parts of the aircraft will then be loaded onto flatbed trucks and transported to a hangar for further investigation.

Officials stated that more than 300 responders are involved in the recovery effort at any given time, with two Navy salvage barges deployed to lift heavy wreckage.

However, recovery efforts have been challenging. D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly confirmed that a Metropolitan Police Department diver had to be hospitalized for hypothermia.

The diver has since checked himself out of the hospital.

‘We’re happy to report that he’s doing fine, and that’s the only injury we have today,’  the chief reported.

An unidentified firefighter working the scene, however, told reporter Brian Entin he and others are ’emotionally wiped out after seeing the horror up close.’

The firefighter explained that the water was ‘actually very clear’ and with their flashlights, ‘they saw horrible things when they arrived.’

Investigators have revealed that the Black Hawk helicopter involved in the collision may have been flying several hundred feet outside the predesignated air traffic control route for the international airport near the nation’s capital.