King Charles has released a heartfelt statement on the Washington DC plane crash that killed 67 people.
The crash on Wednesday night left no survivors between the plane carrying 60 passengers and four crew members and a Black Hawk helicopter with three soldiers on board.
As of Friday afternoon, 41 bodies had been pulled from the Potomac River, including 28 that had been positively identified, Washington DC fire chief John Donnelly Sr said at a news conference.
In a statement released by Buckingham Palace on Saturday, the King said he is ‘profoundly shocked and saddened’.
Charles said: ‘Our hearts, and our special thoughts, are with the people of the United States and our deepest sympathy goes to the families and loved ones of all the victims.
‘I would also like to pay a particular tribute to the emergency responders who acted so quickly to this horrendous event.’
The two aircraft collided when the plane was coming in for a landing at the airport next to Washington.
Investigators looking into the cause of the crash are reviewing the data from the helicopter’s black box along with information from two flight data recorders and a cockpit voice recorder from the plane.
Officials are examining the actions of the military pilot and air traffic control, after the helicopter apparently flew into the American Airlines plane’s path.
Wednesday’s crash was the deadliest in the US since November 12 2001, when an American Airlines flight collided into a residential area of Belle Harbour, New York, just after take-off from Kennedy Airport, killing all 260 people on board.
This is a breaking story. More to follow.
