Witness of American Airlines plane crash saw something ‘looked very wrong’ moments before collision

The search for the remaining bodies continues (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

At the time of writing, 19 bodies are reported to have been pulled from the Potomac River following last night’s collision.

This figure is yet to be confirmed by officials, however.

It’ll be a difficult task for divers to locate the remaining bodies, DC Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said.

“The challenges are access,” he said. “The water that we’re operating in is about 8ft deep.”

Donnelly continued: “There is wind, there is pieces of ice out there. So it’s just dangerous and hard to work in. And because there’s not a lot of lights, you’re out there searching every square inch of space to see if you can find anybody.”

Everything we know so far about the American Airlines plane crash

What has American Airlines said about the crash?

The CEO of American Airlines, Robert Isom, issued a response to the incident as he explained he was travelling to DC with a specialist team to aid the investigation.

In a statement, the businessman said: “This is a difficult day for all of us at American Airlines and our efforts now are focused entirely on the needs of our passengers, crew members, partners, first responders, along with their families and loved ones.

“I know that there are many questions. At this early stage, I’ll not be able to answer all of them, but I do want to share the information I have at this time.”

What has Donald Trump said about the American Airlines crash?

President Trump described the incident as a ‘bad situation’ that ‘should have been prevented’.

“The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport,” he wrote on Truth Social.

“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, 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!!! What a terrible night this has been. God bless you all!”