Arlington (US) (AP): A passenger jet collided on Wednesday night with an Army helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, prompting a large search-and-rescue operation in the nearby Potomac River.

There was no immediate word on casualties, but all takeoffs and landings from the airport near Washington were halted as helicopters from law enforcement agencies across the region flew over the scene in search of survivors. Inflatable rescue boats were launched into the Potomac River from a point near the airport along the George Washington Parkway, just north of the airport.

President Donald Trump was briefed, his press secretary said, and Vice President JD Vance encouraged followers on the social media platform X to “say a prayer for everyone involved.”

The Federal Aviation Administration said the midair collision occurred around 9 pm EST when a regional jet that had departed from Wichita, Kansas, crashed into a military Blackhawk helicopter while on approach to an airport runway.

In audio from the air traffic control tower around the time of the crash, a controller is heard asking the helicopter, “PAT25 do you have the CRJ in sight,” in reference to the passenger aircraft.

“Tower did you see that?” another pilot is heard calling seconds after the apparent collision.

The tower immediately began diverting other aircraft from Reagan.

In a post on social media, American Airlines said it was aware of reports that one of its flights was involved in the incident and said it would provide more information once available.

Video from an observation camera at the nearby Kennedy Center shows two sets of lights consistent with aircraft appearing to join in a fireball.

The airport said emergency personnel were responding to “an aircraft incident on the airfield.”

The incident recalled the crash of an Air Florida flight that plummeted into the Potomac on January 13, 1982, that killed 78 people. That crash was attributed to bad weather.

No other details were immediately available.

 

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New Delhi (PTI): The much-awaited decision about the new chief minister of Delhi will be made in the BJP legislature party meeting to be held at the party's Delhi unit office on Wednesday evening.

The BJP has come to power after 26 years, defeating the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the February 5 Delhi Assembly polls.

Preparations were complete for the legislature party meeting that is expected to begin around 7 pm at Delhi BJP office, the party leaders said.

The 48 BJP MLAs will choose the Leader of the House in the Delhi Assembly who will become the chief minister.

The meeting will be held in the presence of BJP's central observers, whose names are yet to be declared. The new chief minister after being chosen by the party MLAs will meet Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena at the Raj Niwas to stake claim to power.

Meanwhile, preparations are in full swing for a grand swearing-in ceremony of the new government at Ramleela Ground on Thursday afternoon.

Around 50,000 people, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his cabinet colleagues and the chief minister of NDA ruled states among other guests, will attend the ceremony.

The names doing the rounds for the new chief minister include Parvesh Verma, who defeated AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal; former Delhi BJP presidents Vijender Gupta and Satish Upadhyay; and other leaders such as Pawan Sharma, Ashish Sood, Rekha Gupta and Shikha Rai.

The names of Ravinder Indraj Singh, the MLA from Bawana (SC) seat, and Kailash Gangwal, who won the Madipur (SC) seat for the BJP for the first time, are also being discussed.

Many within the party believe that the BJP leadership could choose a "dark horse" as Delhi's next chief minister, a strategy the party opted for in Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh.