What appears to be an aircraft engine belonging to American Airlines Flight 5432 was lifted out of the Potomac River on Monday morning, beginning the complex job of removing the last of the wreckage after a military helicopter collided with it and crashed last Wednesday.
Officials say that what remains of the jet needs to be removed from the crash site in order to recover all 67 victims who died in the midair collision in the Washington, D.C., area.
So far, 55 victims' remains have been recovered. D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly told a news conference Sunday: "We’re going to recover everyone."
"If we knew where they were, though, we would already have them out, so we have some work to do as the salvage operation goes on, and we will absolutely stay here and search until such point as we have everybody," he added. Recovery workers have been battling difficult conditions with near-zero visibility in the dark waters.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, plans to lift the remains of the jet from the river in stages, a process that is expected to last three days. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said he will be present for the wreckage removal Monday.
The operation will use a crane barge, deck barges, dive boats and two surface-supplied dive systems, the army said in a statement.
The American Airlines engine was removed from the Potomac and placed into a barge.
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