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Investigation Intensifies into Cause of Fatal Crash; Israel Condemns Chaotic Scenes at Hostage Release Site; Fighting Takes Growing Toll on U.S. Volunteers in Ukraine; Youth Ice Skaters and Coach Among Victims in Crash. Aired 12-12:45a ET
Aired January 31, 2025 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: No survivors, only questions. How could two aircraft collide mid-air in highly-controlled air space?
[00:00:03]
Hello. I'm John Vause. Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER HOMENDY, CHAIR, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: This is an all-hands-on-deck event.
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VAUSE: And now investigators say the crash happened with only one air traffic controller on duty, not two, at Reagan National Airport.
President Donald Trump says the Democrats and their diversity policies are to blame.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What evidence have you seen to support these claims?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It just could have been.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: It could have been. But there's no evidence behind that claim, which the president made while bodies were being pulled from the scene.
Also, an outraged Israeli prime minister with a very blunt warning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Whoever dares to harm our hostages will pay the price.
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VAUSE: The threat comes after two Israeli hostages were forced to walk through a Palestinian mob to reach the Red Cross.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.
VAUSE: The search for how is underway at Reagan National Airport. It's been almost 50 years since two aircraft collided mid-air over the United States. How could it happen now, leaving all 67 passengers and crews on both the commercial jet and the Army helicopter presumed dead?
How could the deadliest aviation crash in the U.S. in 23 years happen in one of the most heavily controlled pieces of airspace in the world?
Investigators have now recovered the cockpit voice recorder, as well as the flight data recorder from the American Airlines passenger jet.
So far, more than 40 bodies have been pulled from the Potomac River, according to sources familiar with recovery efforts. Fourteen others remain missing, leaving 13 pinned down inside the wreckage and inaccessible to divers.
A crane is now on site to help recover the last of the bodies, but all work remains on hold because of dark and dangerous conditions.
The investigation into the cause of the accident continues with the head of the National Transportation Safety Board telling reporters at this early stage, nothing is being ruled out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOMENDY: As part of any investigation. We look at the human, the machine, and the environment. So, we will look at all the humans that were involved in this accident.
Again, we will look at the aircraft, we will look at the helicopter, we will look at the environment in which they were operating in. That is part of -- that is standard in any part of our investigation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The U.S. president, though, has already made his own conclusions about the cause of the crash, blaming his Democratic predecessors, Joe Biden and Barack Obama, and their diversity, equity and inclusion hiring policy for federal workers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm trying to figure out how you can come to the conclusion right now that diversity had something to do with this crash.
TRUMP: Because I have common sense, OK. And unfortunately, a lot of people don't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: In his first days in office, President Trump signed executive orders banning DEI programs across the federal government, including the Transportation Department, and he called former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg a disaster.
Buttigieg called Trump's remarks despicable, adding that, as families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying.
Meantime, President Trump suggested he has no intention of visiting the site of the disaster.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have a plan to go visit the site, or meet with any --?
TRUMP: I have a -- I have a plan to visit, not the site, because what did -- you tell me? What's the site? The water?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Or to meet with --
TRUMP: You want me to go swimming?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- the first responders down there?
TRUMP: I don't have a plan to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: U.S. commercial airlines have not recorded a fatal crash in 16 years until now. But recently, there were warning signs about a growing risk of collision.
More now from CNN's Pete Muntean.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The National Transportation Safety Board is now investigating what caused the deadliest aviation disaster in the United States in more than 23 years.
HOMENDY: We are all here because this is an all-hands-on-deck event, and we're here to assure the American people that we are going to leave no stone unturned.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): American Eagle Flight 5342, a Canadair regional jet operated by PSA Airlines, callsign Bluestreak, directed to land at Reagan National Airport's Runway 33, one of the most complicated approaches in the country, and running very close to a special corridor used for helicopters flying close to the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we can do 3-3 for Bluestreak 5342.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): The flight's captain had nearly six years of experience with the airline and the first officer nearly two years, according to American Airlines' CEO.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Runway 3-3, cleared to land.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): Four minutes later, the control tower tells a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter, call sign Priority Air Transport, or PAT 2-5, on a training mission to look out for the passenger plane and go behind it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: PAT 2-5, do you have the CRJ in sight? PAT 2-5, pass behind the CRJ.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: PAT 2-5 has aircraft in sight. Request visual separation.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): Despite the helicopter pilot saying he saw the jet, about 13 seconds later, disaster as they slam into each other.
[00:05:06]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Crash, crash, crash. This is an alert three.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): The plane shattered into three pieces, plunging into the dark Potomac River, where both aircraft landed upside-down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was probably out in the middle of the river. I just saw a fireball, and then it was just gone. So, I haven't seen anything since they hit the river, but it was a CRJ and a helicopter that hit.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): More than 300 first responders descended on the scene for a desperate search in near-freezing cold water. But not one of the 64 people on the plane and the three people on the helicopter survived.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The loss of life in an aviation accident is very unusual in the United States, and our heartfelt sorrow goes out to everyone that's affected. It affects us. It affects everyone around us.
MUNTEAN (voice-over): Pete Muntean, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: To Albuquerque, New Mexico now and Alan Diehl, a former investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board and the author of the book "Air Safety Investigators: Using Science to Save Lives, One Crash at a Time."
Alan, thank you for being with us.
ALAN DIEHL, FORMER NTSB INVESTIGATOR: Thank you.
VAUSE: So, investigators now with the flight data recorder, the cockpit voice recorder from the commercial airline. There's also records from the air traffic control, as well as debris and wreckage from both aircraft.
With that in mind, here's the head of the NTSB. Here she is. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOMENDY: You need to give us time. You need to give NTSB -- It's not that we don't have information. We do have information. We have data. We have substantial amounts of information. We need to verify information. We need to take our time to make sure it is accurate.
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VAUSE: Just from your experience, how long will it take for a thorough examination of every piece of data, every piece of evidence? How long will it take and why will it take it that long?
DIEHL: Well, John, it's going to take weeks at the -- at least. In 30 days, the NTSB has got to release a preliminary report. Hopefully, then, we'll get a lot more details.
But the NTSB is very diligent and very thorough in these investigations. And they've got to cross-validate the information.
What if the transponder altitude reporting is wrong, for example, because of some mechanical defect in the electronics? Those are the kind of things that they have to be absolutely sure what they're releasing is accurate and has been reviewed, not just by the NTSB, but the other people that are parties to this investigation.
VAUSE: And there's a reason why it has to be thorough, because they've got to get it right. That's why they've got to take the time.
DIEHL: Absolutely. And, you know, and sometimes when you -- when you do these investigations -- obviously, I've done many of them, not just for the NTSB, but later I worked for the FAA and, in fact, flew out of National Airport as a pilot in the military.
And we -- we found out sometimes that what looks obvious initially turns out to be wrong. So, they're -- they're -- they're careful in releasing the information.
And of course, if you work with the NTSB, you're sworn to secrecy until they speak. Sometimes other parties, like a manufacturer, will intentionally release favorable information about their product. That gets you into a lot of trouble with the NTSB, as Boeing learned last year.
VAUSE: You mentioned you flew in and out of Reagan National. Given that, were you surprised by where the accident happened? It's highly controlled airspace. Hundreds of military and commercial flights taking off each day.
Also, the type of crash this was, a mid-air collision. It's been 47 years since the two aircraft collided mid-air in the U.S.
DIEHL: Yes, it's -- it's been a long, long, long while. Fortunately.
Obviously, we know the airspace is complicated and congested. We also realize that controllers that work that approach control in the tower are very, very good. They're highly qualified.
And the pilots that go in there have to be briefed on and approved for that -- that type of flying.
When I worked for the FAA, they would not -- They had aircraft that could be theoretically flown by a single pilot, but it was the FAA's policy to always have two pilots in the cockpit when you're flying out of National and for all the reasons you talk about, John.
This is complicated. It's congested, and there's little margin for error.
And of course, you have to remember, like for these Army pilots, if they violate one of the control zones, they could have career -- they could suffer career consequences.
So, everybody's got to be on their game when they show up at that particular airport.
VAUSE: Yes. After that midair collision back in 1978, the aviation industry developed what's known as Traffic Alert And Collision Avoidance Systems, or TCAS.
[00:10:04]
It's "a family of airborne devices that function independently of ground-based air traffic control and provide collision avoidance protection for a broad spectrum of aircraft types." That's from FAA.
So, why did that system appear to fail on Wednesday night?
DIEHL: Well, John, I don't think it failed. At certain altitudes, the TCAS, as its abbreviated, is shut off because you get so many warnings.
Can you imagine approaching National -- Reagan National Airport and getting multiple warnings of all the different airplanes that are in the airspace? You wouldn't know which way to turn.
You need to focus on landing the aircraft in that situation. When you're that close in, you need to focus on alignment and landing where you intend to land. And of course, listening to the controllers, as well as running checklists.
So, it is suppressed below certain altitudes.
Obviously, this traffic collision avoidance system that you described so articulately is -- has prevented a lot of midairs, but mainly in route or further out on the approach where the two aircraft are at altitude.
And you're right, it does tell the pilots about the other aircraft. And it also tells both pilots to take evasive action verbally and electronically on their instruments, on the -- on their -- on their panel. So yes, it's a very valuable piece of automation. But unfortunately,
when you get into this congestion of airspace, it has to be suppressed, because there'd be just too many warnings.
VAUSE: Yes. Alan, thank you so much for being with us. Your insights and your experience are invaluable. Thank you, sir.
DIEHL: All right, John. Thank you.
VAUSE: Take care.
Our coverage of this deadly aviation disaster will continue later this hour with details of the 67 lives that were lost.
Also ahead, a chaotic hostage release in Gaza brings harsh criticism from Israel's prime minister and a delay in freedom for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
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VAUSE: Three Israelis and five Thai nationals celebrating their first full day of freedom after being held hostage for more than 15 months in Gaza.
Most were released by the group Hamas, but another militant group, known as Islamic Jihad, were responsible for two of the Israeli hostages, who were forced to walk through a mob of Palestinians to reach a waiting Red Cross vehicle.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond has our report now from Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are the chaotic final moments of Israeli hostage Arbel Yehud's 15 months in captivity.
Flanked by masked militants, the 29-year-old appears terrified as she is hustled through a raucous crowd in Gaza's Southern city of Khan Younis.
Red Cross vehicles and her freedom are just steps away.
In Tel Aviv's Hostage Square, Israelis watch with dreaded anticipation as the scene unfolds live on television. Minutes later, Yehud is handed over to Red Cross officials.
Gadi Moses is next. Amid a sea of militants wearing the green and yellow bandanas of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the 80-year- old hostage is handed over to the Red Cross.
The Israeli prime minister condemning the chaotic scene, calling it "yet more proof of the unimaginable cruelty of the Hamas terrorist organization," demanding that the mediators ensure that such horrific scenes do not recur.
In response, the prime minister delaying the release of 110 Palestinian prisoners, driving Palestinian youths into the streets.
Amid clashes, at least three Palestinians are shot by Israeli forces, according to the Palestine Red Crescent.
Hours later, the busses emerge from Ofer Prison. Of the 110 prisoners being released, 32 were serving life sentences, including several responsible for deadly attacks on Israeli civilians. Thirty children were also released.
They had all been arrested in the last two years, some held without charge, none convicted of a crime.
In Israel, emotional reunions as three Israelis held hostage by Hamas, including the Israeli soldier Agam Berger, were reunited with their families.
Five Thai hostages were also released, freed in addition to the 33 Israeli hostages being released during the six-week ceasefire.
President Trump's Middle East envoy also making an appearance at Hostage Square.
STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. MIDDLE EAST ENVOY: President Trump is committed to -- to doing everything possible to help the families.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Indicating one of two Americans set to be released in the coming weeks will be freed on Saturday.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: In Sweden, five people have been arrested after the murder of an Iraqi man who burned a Koran in protest. Salwan Momika, an Iraqi citizen, was shot and killed near Stockholm on Wednesday.
Momika burned the Koran in 2023, saying it was a danger to democracy, ethics, human values, human rights, and women's rights.
He was to be sentenced in a Swedish court Thursday for incitement of racial hatred.
Showdowns on Capitol Hill. The U.S. president's most controversial department picks faced sharp questioning during confirmation hearings, even from their own party. More on that in a moment.
Also, there is extra agony for the families of U.S. volunteers killed or missing in Ukraine, because their loved one's sacrifices and because of the pro-Russian online trolls which go after them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDY NAWROCKI, MOTHER OF DECEASED U.S. VOLUNTEER: They had posted a picture of my house, my full address. They would post all these nasty comments and, you know, smiley faces and stuff like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Three of the most controversial nominees put forward by Donald Trump faced bipartisan grilling during confirmation hearings on Thursday.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., tapped to lead health policy, was pressed on his controversial vaccine views by one Republican senator.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): Will you reassure mothers, unequivocally and without qualification, that the measles and hepatitis B vaccines do not cause autism?
ROBERT F. KENNEDY, NOMINEE FOR HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: Senator, I am not going into the agency with any --
CASSIDY: It's kind of a yes or no question, because -- So, if you're -- because the data is there, and that's kind of a yes or no. And I don't mean to cut you off, but that really is a yes or no.
KENNEDY: If the data is there, I will absolutely do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Meantime, Trump's choice for national intelligence director, Tulsi Gabbard, faced questions over her views about Russian aggression and U.S. government surveillance.
She appeared evasive also when asked about intelligence leaker Edward Snowden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MICHAEL BENNET (D-CO): Is Edward Snowden a traitor to the United States of America? That is not a hard question to answer when the stakes are this high.
TULSI GABBARD, NOMINEE FOR NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE DIRECTOR: Senator, as someone who has served in uniform --
BENNET: If -- your answer is yes or no. Is Edward Snowden a traitor to the United States of America?
GABBARD: As someone who has worn our uniform in combat --
BENNET: I'll go on to my questions.
GABBARD: -- I understand how critical our national security is.
BENNET: Apparently you don't. Apparently, you don't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The nominee for FBI director, a ten-year-long appointment, Kash Patel, was questioned about earlier threats to prosecute so-called deep-state enemies of Donald Trump.
He also refused to admit that Trump lost the 2020 election, but he did not support the president's mass pardons for January 6th rioters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): I concede he has the authority. I'm asking, was he wrong to do it?
KASH PATEL, NOMINEE FOR FBI DIRECTOR: And as -- as we discussed in our private meeting, Senator, I have always rejected any violence against law enforcement. And I have, including in that group, is specifically addressed any violence against law enforcement on January 6th.
And I do not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Well, the United States is giving some indication about how it would pursue talks between Russia and Ukraine.
New Secretary of State Marco Rubio was interviewed by Megyn Kelly on Thursday, and Rubio said Kyiv and Moscow need to understand they'll have to meet in the middle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The president's point of view is this is a protracted conflict, and it needs to end. Now, it needs to end through negotiation. In any negotiation, both sides are going to have to give something up.
I'm not going to pre-negotiate that. I mean, that's going to be the work of hard diplomacy, which is what we used to do in the world in the past. And we were realistic about it.
But both sides in a negotiation have to give something.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Russia holds much of Eastern and Southern Ukraine and continues a very slow advance. But Kyiv has captured a slice of land in Russia's Kursk region.
The U.S. president says he will meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin soon. But so far, Donald Trump has not laid out any specific plan to end the war in Ukraine.
It's been almost three years since the war began, and among the growing number of casualties are U.S. volunteers, putting their lives on the line in the war with no direct impact on their country. Some are dying in combat. Some have gone missing. And it's taking a
devastating emotional toll on their families back home, as CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): America isn't sure it wants this war anymore, but some are still fighting it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got to move, move, move!
WALSH (voice-over): This rare footage --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move!
WALSH: -- of American volunteers in combat, who are increasingly dying and missing in action. At least 20 now MIA. Five cases in just the last six months, as they're used to urgently plug holes in Ukraine's defenses.
Fierce fighting has raged around Pokrovsk in the East for months. In the horrific web of bunker defenses there, a three-man American team were pinned down after their mission to blow up a bridge fell apart in September. Only one American survived, callsign Redneck.
"REDNECK," U.S. VOLUNTEER WHO FOUGHT IN UKRAINE: Artillery kicks in bright and early before the sun is even up. Then followed by two helicopters coming in, attacking us with rockets and then a boatload of drones.
And the radio is screaming at us: prepare to fight, prepare to fight, prepare to fight!
WALSH (voice-over): Russian footage shows the intense fight back then. A drone strike hit two of the three Americans. One died of his injuries quickly. But the third, Zachary Ford, seen here, seemed to have been stabilized. Yet another attack was coming.
"REDNECK": We weren't going to make it through another attack. So, he started asking me to kill him so he wouldn't be captured.
I refused, and then he called me over a couple of minutes later, told me he loosened his tourniquet.
WALSH (voice-over): Ford was quickly dying from the blood loss.
"REDNECK": He wanted to see the sun, so I laid him down with his head towards the door, so he could look out and see the sun. And I just held his hand. Was he looked at me and he said, never let it be said that the bastards killed me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In order to pay the tribute to the warriors, defenders of the people of Ukraine.
[00:30:04]
WALSH (voice-over): The bodies of other fallen Americans have endured a public distressing fate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was respected and loved by everyone.
WALSH (voice-over): On a tier in Kyiv, former U.S. Marine Corey Nawrocki, who was killed in Bryansk, Russia, in October alongside another American. Their bodies were posted on social media, and even Corey's mother trolled online, before lengthened negotiations returned their remains to Ukraine Friday.
NAWROCKI: Oh, gosh. A whirlwind of emotions. Like relief but sadness. It's almost like a weight has been lifted off my shoulder.
Because -- sorry. Because now I don't have to worry about what I think they might be doing to him over there.
WALSH (voice-over): But pro-Russian trolls didn't just post images of Corey's body.
NAWROCKI: They had posted a picture of my house, my full address. They would post all these nasty comments and, you know, smiley faces and stuff like that.
WALSH: Texan Lauren Guillaume helps identify dead foreigners, often through a gruesome trawl of morgues. She said foreigners are increasingly used in the toughest spots to fill urgent gaps in Ukrainian manpower.
LAUREN GUILLAUME, R.T. WEATHERMAN FOUNDATION: It's increased dramatically in the past six months, and most of that is missing in action cases.
We find that foreign operators do fill the gaps of very difficult, high-risk, high-reward operations.
We think it is a reflection of how the battlefield looks right now.
WALSH: Drones, artillery. Impossible to get the bodies back.
GUILLAUME: Correct.
WALSH (voice-over): One of her first missions was getting Cedric Hamm, a veteran from Texas, home. He died in Sumy region, was sent home with honors in Kyiv. And found through his tattoos.
His mother reads his old text messages.
RAQUEL HAMM, MOTHER OF DECEASED U.S. VOLUNTEER: "I met people whose homes were blown up. I met people whose women were raped in front of them. I think God understands I'm doing a good thing."
And that was my greatest fear, that my son was going to be used as a symbol of hate, because here he was as a foreign fighter, helping Ukraine. And I'm just -- was so overwhelmed with joy that my son was located, that we were not going to have to wonder.
WALSH: What do you remember as being the darkest moment for you? HAMM: Knowing he's not going to be around. Pretty much that.
WALSH: I'm so sorry.
HAMM: It's OK. It's just he was super funny and, like, could do anything and everything that I asked him to do. Very good son.
WALSH (voice-over): A war so much of America feels distant to, here so very close to home.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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VAUSE: Recovery efforts have been suspended for the night in Washington, where 67 people are presumed dead after a passenger plane and military Black Hawk helicopter collided Wednesday night.
More than 40 bodies have been found; 14 remain missing; 13 others trapped in wreckage and inaccessible to divers, which is why salvage cranes should be up and running within the next two days.
We're now finding out more about those lives that were lost during that collision. Two youth ice skaters, Angela Yang and Sean Kay, and their coach, Alexandr Sasha Kirsanov, all from Delaware, were on board the passenger flight.
Kirsanov's wife says Kay and Yang were an amazing team with a big future. More now from CNN's Kayla -- Kayla Tausche, reporting in from Washington.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Families descending on Reagan National Airport to remember the children, coaches, crew members, and soldiers, all killed in the deadliest air crash on U.S. soil since 2001.
The crew aboard Flight 5342 included Captain Jonathan Campos and First Officer Sam Lilley. The 28-year-old, recently engaged to be married, his dad Timothy saying, "I was so proud of Sam when he became a pilot. Now it hurts so bad I can't even cry myself to sleep."
Fifty-three-year-old Ian Epstein, one of the two flight attendants on board, remembered by his sister as someone who loved life, traveling, family, and his job.
SARA NELSON, ASSOCIATION OF FLIGHT ATTENDANTS: Today is heartbreaking. And there are flight attendants all around the world who are identifying with those two flight attendants, whether they knew them or not.
TAUSCHE (voice-over): Boston junior skater Spencer Lane returning from training camp in Wichita, posting this photo at takeoff. Lane among nearly a dozen young skaters on board, according to Golden Skate, rocking leaders across the sport.
DOUG ZEGHIBE, CEO, BOSTON SKATE CLUB: It's a close, tight bond, and I think for all of us, we have lost family.
NANCY KERRIGAN, FORMER U.S. OLYMPIC FIGURE SKATER: I've never seen anyone love skating as much as these two, and that's why I think it hurts so much.
TAUSCHE (voice-over): In the D.C. area, school districts are in mourning and offering resources, with students and alumni among the dead. A Virginia congressman says his district is shattered.
REP. SUHAS SUBRAMANYAM (D-VA): There are several people in our community who are on the plane and passed away, and it's just devastating to our community.
TAUSCHE (voice-over): Twenty-six-year-old Asra Hussain Raza graduated with honors and married her college sweetheart. A consultant, she was commuting for a project at a Wichita hospital.
Her father-in-law describes her as someone who went out of her way to help people.
A local steamfitters union lost five members on board the flight, the trade said in a statement.
[00:40:05]
Fifteen miles from the crash site, home base for three Army pilots whose Black Hawk collided with the jet. The Pentagon has not released the identities of the three soldiers from the 12th Aviation Battalion, with a combined 1,500 hours of flight training.
As the remains of one were pulled from the Potomac, seen here from FOX 5 D.C., first responders salute this service member's final mission.
Kayla Tausche, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: I'm John Vause. Thank you for watching. I'll be back at the top of the hour with more CNN NEWSROOM, but please stay with us. WORLD SPORT starts after a short break.
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