US President Donald Trump confirmed the deaths of all those aboard an airliner and a military helicopter which collided mid-air over Washington's Potomac river yesterday.  

Trump launched an extraordinary political attack blaming diversity hires for the collision and mentioned pilot error on the helicopter in the nighttime crash.

As Trump spoke in the White House, police divers searched for more bodies in the water.

Wreckage of the Bombardier jet operated by an American Airlines subsidiary protruded from the river surface, surrounded by emergency vessels and diving teams. It had been carrying 64 people.

The army Blackhawk helicopter, which had three soldiers aboard, was also in the river.

"We are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation," Washington Fire Chief John Donnelly said. Twenty eight bodies had already been found.

The collision -- the first major crash in the United States since 2009 when 49 people were killed near Buffalo, New York -- occurred late evening on Wednesday as the airliner came into land at Reagan National Airport after a routine flight from Wichita, Kansas.

Reagan National is a major airport located a short distance from downtown Washington, the White House and the Pentagon. The airspace is extremely busy, with civilian and military aircraft a constant presence.

Dramatic audio from air traffic controllers showed them repeatedly asking the helicopter if it had the passenger jet "in sight," and then just before the crash telling it to "pass behind" the plane.

Trump politicizes crash

Trump opened his press conference by speaking of the nation's "anguish" and said that the investigation would take time.

However, he then launched into an extended broadside against so-called diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

Trump -- who began his presidency a week ago with an onslaught against decades-old measures aimed at preventing sexism and racism in the United States -- singled out Biden's openly gay transport secretary Pete Buttigieg.

"He's run it right into the ground with his diversity," Trump said.

The message was hammered home as Trump's vice president, JD Vance, and new defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, took turns at the podium to repeat that diversity measures kept capable Americans out of responsible jobs.

Asked again by reporters whether he was blaming workplace diversity for the crash, Trump answered: "It could have been."

Buttigieg responded on X, calling Trump "despicable."

"As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying," he said.

Skaters among victims

Hundreds of rescuers were rapidly at the scene, but found themselves battling darkness and floating ice through the night. Some of the debris was located a mile downriver.

Among those on the airliner were several US skaters and coaches, US Figure Skating said. Officials in Moscow also confirmed the presence of Russian couple Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who won the 1994 world pairs title.

The violence of the collision soon made it clear that survivors were unlikely.

"I just saw a fireball and it was gone," one air traffic controller was heard telling a colleague after communication with the helicopter was cut.

What happened?

Transport officials said both aircraft were on standard flight patterns on a clear night with good visibility.

Hegseth said the Black Hawk chopper had "a fairly experienced crew that was doing a required annual night evaluation."

"Do I think this was preventable? Absolutely," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.

Trump, in addition to blaming racial and other kinds of diversity policies, offered extended remarks on the flight paths.

The helicopter was "going at an angle that was unbelievably bad," Trump said.