A firetruck heads toward the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport after an air crash in Washington, DC, on January 29, 2025. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)
A US passenger jet carrying 64 people crashed into Washington’s Potomac River Wednesday after colliding midair with a military helicopter on a night training exercise, prompting a desperate search for survivors in the dark, near-freezing water.
The plane was approaching Reagan National Airport at around 9:00 pm (0200 GMT) after flying from Wichita, Kansas, when the collision happened.
American Airlines, whose subsidiary PSA Airlines operated the Bombardier regional jet, said “there were 60 passengers and four crew members on board the aircraft.”
Information screens in Reagan National Airport display emergency instructions as journalists wait for a media briefing after a plane crashed into the Potomac River outside Washington, DC, January 30, 2025. (Photo by Ting Shen / AFP)
A US Army official said the helicopter involved was a Black Hawk carrying three soldiers — their status currently unknown. They had been on a “training flight,” a separate military spokesperson said in a statement.
Washington police said “there is no confirmed information on casualties at this time.”
However, a massive search and rescue operation was in progress, with divers visible in the glare of powerful lights as they plunged into the snow-lined Potomac to scour the wreckage of both aircraft.
“We’re going to be out there as long as it takes, and we’re obviously trying to get to people as soon as possible, but we are going to recover our fellow citizens,” Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters.
Washington Fire Chief John Donnelly said at a press briefing that emergency crews, totaling about 300 people, were working in “extremely rough” conditions and gave little indication they expected to find anyone alive.
“We will re-evaluate where we are with the rescue operation in the morning, when we get a better sense of it,” Donnelly said.
“But we are still out there working, and we’re going to continue that throughout the night.”
Witness Ari Schulman was driving home when he saw what he described as “a stream of sparks” overhead.
Lights from emergency vehicles are seen as rescue crews gather along the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC, after an air crash on January 29, 2025. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)
“Initially I saw the plane and it looked fine, normal. It was right about to head over land,” he told CNN.
“Three seconds later, and at that point it was banked all the way to the right… I could see the underside of it, it was lit up a very bright yellow, and there was a stream of sparks underneath it,” Schulman added.
“It looked like a Roman candle.”
Trump criticizes traffic control
President Donald Trump said in an official statement that he had been “fully briefed” and said of any victims, “may God bless their souls.”
But less than four hours after the disaster — and while other officials stressed they were waiting for investigations to unfold — he returned to social media to critique air traffic control.
“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. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“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!!!”
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the grounding of all planes at Reagan National and the airport was not due to reopen until 11:00 am (1600 GMT) Thursday.
American Airlines’ chief executive issued a video statement in which he expressed “deep sorrow”, while US Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas called the collision “nothing short of a nightmare.”
Crowded airspace
Questions were expected to focus on how a passenger plane with modern collision-avoidance technology and nearby traffic controllers could collide with a military aircraft over the nation’s capital.
The airspace around Washington is often crowded, with planes coming in low over the city to land at Reagan airport and helicopters — military, civilian and carrying senior politicians or officials — buzzing about both day and night.
The same airport was the scene of a deadly crash in January 1982 when Air Florida Flight 90, a Boeing 737, took off but quickly plummeted, hitting the 14th Street bridge and crashing through the ice into the Potomac River. Seventy-eight people died.
Investigators concluded the pilot had failed to activate sufficient de-icing procedures.
The last major fatal US air accident was in 2009, when Continental Flight 3407 from New Jersey to Buffalo, New York crashed and killed all 49 people aboard.
Saudi Arabia has updated its tourist eVisa programme for 2026, limiting eligibility in Africa to only three countries as part of its list of 66 nations whose citizens can apply through the Kingdom’s online visa platform.
The move leaves most African countries, including Nigeria, outside the simplified entry scheme.
The electronic visa allows eligible travellers to visit Saudi Arabia for tourism, leisure activities, family visits and Umrah, excluding the annual Hajj pilgrimage. Applications are completed online, eliminating the need for embassy visits and lengthy visa processing.
Saudi authorities said the eVisa forms part of ongoing efforts to expand tourism, attract international visitors and simplify travel procedures through a fully digital application system. The visa is available only to citizens of approved countries and territories listed on the Kingdom’s official tourism portal.
Below is the list of African countries eligible for Saudi Arabia’s eVisa.
The South African government says more than 53,000 foreign nationals have been deported or repatriated since launching a “migration management” campaign five weeks ago.
Most were from Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique, officials say, and the number is likely to rise as repatriations and deportations continue.
South Africa is carrying out one of its biggest crackdowns on undocumented migrants in years, following weeks of anti-immigration protests that have seen violence, intimidation and looting.
Protesters have been demanding tighter border controls and mass deportations, accusing migrants of contributing to high unemployment, rising crime rates and collapse of public services.
The UN has warned against using migrants as scapegoats for South Africa’s socioeconomic challenges.
Anti-migrant activists have threatened to stage weekly protests to pressure the government until their demands are met, and there are fears the protests could turn violent.
The demonstrators had set an “unofficial deadline” of 30 June for all undocumented migrants to leave the country, which has seen many foreigners leave to escape violence and intimidation.
Several countries, including Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya, have flown their citizens home in recent weeks.
Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi announced on Sunday that 53,499 foreign nationals have been processed for deportation and repatriation, “which is dominated by the Malawians, followed by Zimbabweans and Mozambicans”.
“We are striving to achieve an orderly and regular migration which is mindful and sensitive to the concerns raised by our people, while observing human rights and dignity of all people in our country, irrespective of their citizenship and immigration status,” Kubayi told a news conference in Pretoria.
She said the repatriation and deportation process has helped them catch people who were wanted by the police for alleged criminal activity.
Authorities will continue to enforce its immigration laws, she added, but warned that protesters should not conduct unauthorised searches of homes and businesses that are suspected of sheltering undocumented migrants.
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has acknowledged public concerns about immigration but has condemned attacks against migrants, warning citizens against taking the law into their own hands.
South Africa is the continent’s wealthiest nation and has long attracted migrants searching for better economic opportunities, some of whom enter the country illegally.
Plans for a 64-team men’s World Cup are set to be assessed after the 2026 tournament, with Fifa boss Gianni Infantino saying the event needs to be “for the whole world”.
The proposal for an expanded tournament was put forward last year, and Infantino says the success of the expanded 48-team tournament means Fifa should look at how a 64-team World Cup could work.
“These are all issues that we will be examining after the World Cup,” Infantino told Swiss broadcaster Blue Sport, external when asked if the tournament could grow to 64 teams.
“When organising a World Cup, it’s important to organise it for the whole world – not just Europe and South America, but effectively the entire world. Every nation should be allowed to dream of participating in the World Cup.
“You can see that the quality of the teams is extremely high, and it’s getting higher and higher, all over the world. If you don’t give smaller countries a chance to participate in the World Cup, they’ll lack the incentive to keep improving.”
Infantino said that the first 48-team World Cup has been “a huge success”, citing the progression of nine out of 10 African teams to the knockout stages.
“At the last World Cup, there were only five teams from Africa,” he said. “That just goes to show how important it is to include all teams – to give them this opportunity to participate.”
The Fifa council approved the expansion of the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams in 2017.
An official proposal to boost the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams was put forward by South American governing body Conmebol in April 2025, but no decision has been reached.
The 2030 edition will be mainly co-hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco, with the three opening matches to be hosted by Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay to celebrate the centenary of the competition. Uruguay hosted the first World Cup, in 1930.
Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin is among those to have dismissed the 64-team proposal, with the Slovenian saying it is a “bad idea” for both the tournament itself and the qualifying process.
Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa agreed, saying further expansion would bring “chaos”.
Victor Montagliani, president of the governing body for football in North and Central America and the Caribbean (Concacaf), said the suggestion “doesn’t feel right” and he believes the expansion would damage “the broader football ecosystem”.
However, Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House’s World Cup task force, said the United States could consider making a bid to host the 2038 World Cup and would be able to “handle it” if expanded to 64 teams.
Fifa’s official position has always been it will discuss expansion ideas with stakeholders and it is duty bound to consider any proposals from council members.
The Fifa council would make the ultimate decision, but there are no signs it is something expected to happen imminently.
