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CNN International: Emergency Officials Hold Briefing on Wednesday's Midair Collision That Killed 67 People. Aired 2:40-3p ET

Aired January 31, 2025 - 14:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[14:43:06]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN BREAKING NEWS.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: I'm Richard Quest. Welcome. Emergency officials are now holding a briefing on Wednesday's mid-air collision that kills 67 people. We join it in conference.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN A. DONNELLY, CHIEF, WASHINGTON, D.C. FIRE AND EMS DEPARTMENT: So the question is, can anybody talk about the FAA's decision to restrict fights in and around National Airport? I don't believe we have any - so that's probably beyond the scope of this interview. You'll have the NTSB later and that's something I might ask them. Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) CBS News. Given the time that has passed, can you describe the conditions right now as it relates to the recovery process on whether you all think that you would be able to recover more bodies?

DONNELLY: OK. The question was given the time that has passed and the conditions outside, do we believe we're going to be able to recover more bodies? And there's a lot of challenges with that. So, I'm going to answer that one. I'm going to say that yes, we expect to recover all of the bodies. We have -- that's why our teams are still working. We're going to have to work with the salvage company to do some of that work. Yes, sir.

ALEX CAPRARIELLO, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, NEWS NATION: If I may ask a question on behalf of the Reagan National Airport. This is Alex Caprariello with News Nation. A lot of questions now circulating about the crowded airspace surrounding this airport. Also reporting on other close calls, including 24 hours before the fatal accident.

We've seen the FAA take the position of restricting the airspace specifically around one and four for choppers in this area. What is the airport's position about potentially toning down some of the air traffic around this airport? And should this have been done sooner specifically the restrictions on the airspace for choppers on route one and four?

DONNELLY: If you can restate the question.

TERRY LIERCKE, VICE PRESIDENT, REAGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT: Yes, sure. The question was regarding air traffic, helicopter routes up and down the Potomac, right? That is an FAA responsibility. The airspace is controlled by the FAA. The airport does not have any responsibility outside of the surfaces of the airport itself.

[14:45:05]

CAPRARIELLO: But most certainly this has been conversations that you've had when it comes to safety for the airport for the passengers that come in and out of D.C.

LIERCKE: Absolutely. The FAA does regulate the airport, and we follow all FAA safety regulations. Again, all I can say is the FAA is responsible for the airspace.

CAPRARIELLO: Very briefly, a question for the Chief. How long do you expect it to take for the salvage to be removed from the river to recover the bodies and do everything that's necessary to bring closure for these families?

DONNELLY: So, we're working as fast as we can. I'm not going to be able to give a timeline on that as there's a lot of unknowns. But we hope that we have better -- we have -- not better, but we have more salvage equipment here tomorrow and that that operation can begin then. So, next three questions. One, two, three.

Yes, Chief. Perry Russom, ABC News. How is weather affecting recovery efforts? Rain today, rain forecast later. What are the elements inside the river? How is all of this affected recovery?

DONNELLY: So, the question is how does the weather affect the recovery operation? In my view, it may slow it down slightly, but we are -- all the units out here, all of the people working, work year-round in all conditions. We're going to be careful. We're going to make sure we don't hurt anybody else. But the weather we've seen so far is weather we can work in. If that were to change, that would affect it. But we haven't seen that.

I'll take one question at a time. Yes.

You talked earlier about access to the site and to gain access to that area. You don't think that ice was a real problem that day, but the John Glenn has been out of service for some time. Do you have an update on when that vessel can be (INAUDIBLE).

DONNELLY: So, the question is access to the site and the John Glenn is the fireboat for the District of Columbia. So, what I refer to on access to the site is things like Gravelly Point being closed and that being lost as a local recreation area while we're working.

There was some ice on the river. We made good access to the site with everybody else. The John Glenn has been reported as one of the district's fireboats. It is not the primary asset for this type of operation. And so, while it's in the shop, it didn't affect anything. And we hope to have it back by the summer. Yes, sir?

GRADY TRIMBLE, CORRESPONDENT, FOX NEWS: This is a kind of a follow-up question on the runway closures. Grady Trimble with Fox. So, you said two of three are closed because of their proximity to the crash site. Can you explain why they remain closed?

LIERCKE: Sure, absolutely. So, the question is why are two of the three runways here at National Airport closed? So, if you're familiar with the runway configurations here, we have a main north-south runway and we have two what we call crosswind runways. The two crosswind runways, if aircraft were to take off or land over the aircraft recovery sites that is out there right now, those would be impactful to the operation. So, we've elected to keep those runways closed.

TRIMBLE: And follow up, how long do you expect that to remain in the case? And are you saying that if there -- if there are still recovery teams in the Potomac, then there's no chance that these two runways are going to open? How does that impact the operation?

LIERCKE: Yes, sure. So, the question is asking how long we anticipate those runways to be closed? That's a dynamic situation. We've worked with the FAA. I think what we've communicated is we anticipate our expectation is a week. However, we'll reassess on Monday and as the recovery efforts go. It's a fluid situation, obviously. Yes.

DONNELLY: OK, Paul here and there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chief, if I talk to the salvage. And you confirm that you're not going to be able to recover the remaining bodies until you're able to get the fuselage (INAUDIBLE) the floor river and onto a march. And then my follow-up to that is, are you making an effort today to get into the helicopter to recover those two bodies?

DONNELLY: So, the question is, do we believe we have to lift the aircraft out of the water in order to finish and find the rest of the remains? And the second part of the question was, are we focused on the helicopter today? And the answer to the first question is, yes, I believe for us to recover the rest of the remains that we are going to need to get the fuselage out of the water.

The second part of the question is, yes, a lot of our operations, not all of them, but a lot of our operations today are focused on the helicopter. Yes, ma'am.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This question is from (INAUDIBLE) outside D.C.? Can you confirm sufficient staffing moving forward in the tower? I don't know if that's a (INAUDIBLE).

LIERCKE: It's not. So, the question was regarding staffing in the air traffic control tower. That's outside my scope of responsibility.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you talk a little bit about the toll this taken on your team specifically? How many people still remain? I know on day one there were upwards of 300 (INAUDIBLE). Are they still out there?

[14:50:16]

DONNELLY: So, you know, this is an incident where even if it doesn't affect you right now, it's probably going to affect you later. It'll be something that you think about. So, the -- in emergency services across the board, we have support teams, the national capital region, all of the departments do. So, they've been activated.

The International Association of Firefighters Regional Peer Support Team has been activated to help support. And we -- the incident management team, as they rotate responders through the scene, are making sure that there are opportunities for them to get the assistance they need.

I'm going to ask the Virginia State Police to talk about the peer support he's doing a little bit.

KENNETH BLANK, FIRST SERGEANT, VIRGINIA STATE POLICE: I'm First Sergeant Blank with the State Police in Virginia. We are working with our partners. MWAA is leading the support for -- the effort for peer support. But I'm here in support of that effort and we have several regional partners that are contributing to that, including mental health professionals who are on-site, from Inova and from the -- from a nonprofit in the area that are providing support.

The Virginia Law Enforcement Assistance Program is also planning to send support. And all of the -- most of the public safety --

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: A lot of detail there from the various officials who are responsible for the actual recovery of both the fuselage, the aircraft, the helicopter, and of course, the remains. I think perhaps the one thing that I take away from what we've just heard is that they believe they'll have to remove the fuselage from the water before they will be able to recover the remains of the -- those passengers on board the plane. They have not managed to do so far. And that other assets are being moved into the area, including the Coast Guard bringing in more equipment.

Certain runways will remain closed at the airport there because of the logistics of running this operation at the same time as those certain runways.

Brian Todd is with me. Sad, Brian, isn't it? Because, you know, as the investigation gets underway, these are the men and women who are in a sense doing the hard work of rescuing or recovering the bodies and the wreckage.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Richard. And you heard from that news conference. You've got an idea there of just how difficult this recovery operation really is. And the conditions that they're working under are just very, very difficult. It's interesting that they say now they have to lift out the fuselage to possibly recover more bodies.

You did hear them say that they have recovered 41 bodies so far. 28 have been identified. Remember, 67 people are presumed killed in both of these aircraft from this accident. So, I mean, the conditions that they're working under as well are very, very difficult. Right now, I can see across the river, there's been a kind of a thick

patch of fog, very low-lying fog right above the river. It's starting to lift now, but that's just one more thing that they're working -- you know, they're working around here. The water has been choppy. It's a very brackish river, almost no visibility. It's very difficult for the divers.

I think what's interesting that you heard John Donnelly say about, you know, again, lifting the fuselage out. We've talked to former divers and former recovery people. They say just, you know, even though it's in only eight feet of water, it's very, very difficult for the divers to kind of move in and around the fuselage. It is such a tight space. There are bodies that are probably not all in one piece, bodies that are trapped underneath and trapped in certain chambers. That's what makes this so very, very difficult, Richard.

QUEST: And the investigation from the NTSB's point of view -- now, obviously, let's -- for the sake of a moment or to ignore what we've heard yesterday from the White House, but let's just focus on the investigation. It does now look as though the helicopter might not have been where it was supposed to be, either at the right height or on the right track.

And we now know that the FAA has suspended helicopter operations, Brian, along the Potomac. You're an expert in this part of the world. There's none better. You know that airport and river back -- at the back of your hand.

TODD: I do, Richard. And, you know, we were commenting on the night of the accident that there's just an extraordinary amount of air traffic of all kinds that is swirling around this airport constantly. Helicopters, small planes, large passenger planes. They seem to be coming close to each other all the time.

You can -- I drive around this area all the time. I kind of look across the river. I watch the planes and the helicopters coming in. You sometimes wonder when you see a helicopter in the sky and then you see a plane a little bit above it like, OK, are they coming a little too close? Some of that it an optical illusion, but it really is -- it illustrates just that there is a lot of air traffic here.

As you pointed out, we have now reporting from our Oren Liebermann that track -- flight tracking data shows that that helicopter was probably at least 100 feet above the allowed altitude for helicopters at the time of the accident and that it had veered off of its course. And, again, as you pointed out, Richard, the FAA, according to an official, is shutting down that corridor, that low-altitude helicopter corridor, for now while they try to figure some of this out.

[14:55:30]

QUEST: Brian, thank you. I'm grateful, sir. Brian Todd joining me from Reagan National Airport. I need to just update you what we expect to happen over the next couple of hours. We are expecting an update briefing from the National Transportation Safety Board, the NTSB. They are the investigators and they are the ones who will be looking into this.

We heard from them yesterday, they gave us the operational setup, the groups that they were setting up, the operational groups to investigate it. And I suspect today we're going to hear a lot more about not so much the cause or the -- but, for example, what plane was where, who was doing what, when, and why. And then, of course, the naughty problem, of course, how it all is going to be put together.

So, that will be in the next hour or two. You'll hear it live, of course, here on CNN, because the news never stops, so neither do we. This is CNN.

END