An American Airlines passenger plane carrying 64 people has crashed into the Potomac River near Washington, DC after colliding midair with a military helicopter on a training exercise late on Wednesday, prompting a major emergency response and the grounding of all flights.

The passenger plane was about to land at Reagan National Airport after flying from Kansas.

American Airlines, whose subsidiary operated the flight, said “there were 60 passengers and four crew members on board the aircraft”.

A US Army official said the helicopter involved was a Black Hawk model carrying three soldiers. They had been on a “training flight”, a separate military spokesperson said in a statement.

Washington police said “there is no confirmed information on casualties at this time.”

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the grounding of all planes at Reagan National, and Washington’s police said on X that “multiple agencies” were responding to the crash site in the Potomac.

The last major fatal US crash was in 2009, when Continental Flight 3407 from New Jersey to Buffalo, New York crashed and killed all 49 people on board.

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