The horrific Washington DC plane crash has become “incredibly political” as the rescue operation by authorities continues, it has been claimed.
Officials have claimed that “no survivors are expected” as a result of the crash between a passenger aircraft and a helicopter over the Potomac River, as it attempted to land at Ronald Reagan Washington Airport.
Speaking to GB News, reporter Steven Edginton claimed that the “blame game had already begun” between the Republican and Democrat administrations, with newly inaugurated President Donald Trump taking to social media to question how the collision took place.
Detailing the latest from the crash site in Washington DC, Edginton told the People’s Channel: “Authorities are trying to figure out exactly how this happened. It looks like the communication between the pilot in the commercial aircraft, the pilot in the military helicopter, the Blackhawk, and the air traffic control was not disrupted.
Steven Edginton shares the latest details on the Washington DC plane crash
GB News / Reuters
“So it’s quite an interesting development that there wasn’t any kind of disruption in those mechanical communications.”
Taking to his platform Truth Social, Trump asked: “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!!!”
Discussing the political tensions in the US following the crash, Edginton claimed that the situation has become “incredibly political”, with the “blame game” being thrown between the Republican and Democrat camps.
Edginton explained: “Politicians here in Washington are desperately trying to figure out exactly how this happened, and already the blame game has begun.
The incident took place around 10pm local time on Wednesday eveningReuters“Democrats are blaming Donald Trump, the Republicans are blaming their predecessors, obviously. Donald Trump was only inaugurated just over a week ago, so this is becoming incredibly political.”
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Echoing Trump’s remarks that the crash may have been “preventable”, Edginton suggested that the authorities “also believe this could have been prevented”.
He added: “For the survivors, it’s really important, and for people flying into Ronald Reagan National Airport, which is an incredibly busy airport in Washington, DC, it’s vital that we know exactly what happened that led to this crash.
“Trump tweeted last night saying that this was preventable, and other authorities are saying this is probably the case. This was preventable. We’re just trying to figure out at the moment exactly how that military aircraft pilot didn’t realise that there was a commercial flight landing at the airport at that time.”
Concluding with the latest developments coming out of Washington DC, Edginton told GB News that the “blame doesn’t appear to be on the commercial aircraft pilot”, but “more so on the helicopter pilot” as more details begin to emerge.
Edginton told GB News that the ‘blame game has begun’ between political figures as developments continue to unfold
GB News
Edginton said: “We know that the Black Hawk was on a training exercise, and the pilot of the commercial aircraft was incredibly experienced, he had six years experience as a pilot.
“The aircraft company has said that this wasn’t an inexperienced pilot, and people aren’t blaming the commercial aircraft. It looks like the blame is more on the military aircraft. But again, we just don’t know exactly what happened last night.”
He added: “The Potomac, which is right behind me, it’s incredibly icy conditions. There’s chunks of ice I can see in the river right now, and last night at 9pm, the aircraft came down.
“Throughout the night, hundreds of rescue workers have been trying to rescue people, trying to find people’s bodies. But unfortunately, it looks like there are no survivors in this crash.”