Wichita, Kansas, the city from where an American Airlines jet departed Wednesday, with 64 people on board before crashing midair with a U.S. Army helicopter carrying three soldiers near Reagan National Airport, is set to host a community prayer meeting as officials gave up hope of finding survivors Thursday.
“We mourn with all those who have been impacted,” Wichita Mayor Lily Wu said at a press conference Thursday morning as she revealed there were no survivors.
“We do not know yet the final confirmation on all of the individuals who were on that flight, and of course, we will share that information, but not before families have been first contacted,” she added.
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Early Thursday morning, Wu also announced on X that there would be community prayer at the Wichita City Hall starting at noon Central time.
“At this time, our community needs to come together to support the family members who have been impacted,” Wu said. “To come together in honor of those individuals on that flight and as a council, we will lead in bringing this community together to pray for our community but also move our community to know that there are resources and as a city, we will have additional resources, especially for staff who have been impacted.”
Join the Wichita City Council and local faith leaders in a community prayer at noon today. pic.twitter.com/mRnbOMLxsT
— Lily Wu (@LilyWuKansas) January 30, 2025
U.S. Army officials cited by The New York Times said the helicopter that crashed with American Airlines Flight 5342 at around 9 p.m. as it approached Runway 33 at Reagan National, is a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk. It was on a training flight operating out of Davison Army Airfield in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The airplane was described as a 20-year-old Bombardier CRJ700.
John Donnelly, Washington’s fire chief, said Thursday that the control tower received an alert at about 8:48 p.m. about the crash and 300 first responders from multiple agencies in the Washington Metropolitan area worked all night looking for survivors but they found none.
“These responders found extremely frigid conditions. They found heavy wind. They found ice on the water, and they operated all night in those conditions,” Donnelly said.
“Despite all those efforts, we are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation. At this point, we don’t believe there are any survivors from this accident.”
Donnelly confirmed the recovery of 27 bodies from the American Airlines aircraft and one from the helicopter.
“The District Office of the medical examiner has lead on reuniting these bodies…. with their loved ones, and we will continue to work to find all the bodies and collect them and reunite them with their loved ones.”
In a statement following the crash, U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., called it a “nightmare” and offered prayers for the victims and their families.
“Tonight, we received devastating news of what can only be described as nothing short of a nightmare. A plane, traveling to the nation’s capital from Wichita, KS carrying roughly 60 passengers collided with a military helicopter. My prayer is that God wraps his arms around each and every victim, and that he continues to be with their families,” Marshall wrote.
“There’s no words that can make telling this story any easier. I ask the world to join me in praying for Kansas this evening, the first responders, rescue crews, and all those involved in this horrific accident.”
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