Newly released body camera footage reveals the scope of the recovery effort the day after a military helicopter and an American Airlines jet collided midair and crashed in the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport.
The footage, from Alexandria police and obtained by WTOP partner ABC News, shows a boater describing finding a seat that could be from one of the aircraft involved in the crash.
As he watched the debris in the water, the unidentified man appears to say he thought, “Oh my God, that’s gonna be gone, long gone.”
An official then responded that they’ve “got truckloads of it, but thank you so much.”
The video unveils how first responders and even community members battled frigid conditions to assist with the recovery effort. The footage is dated Jan. 30, a day after the crash. Sixty-seven people died as a result of the crash, and it took days to complete the recovery effort.
Body camera footage shows the boater using his phone to describe the location where he found some of the debris. He said he found the seat between a D.C. Water site and a U.S. Navy lab.
“This stuff was sort of like along the way in here, but it gets really shallow,” the man said. “And I could smell a lot of the jet fuel in there. So things may have, and it was just sort of like cushion material.”
ABC News obtained the video from the Alexandria Police Department through a public records request. The news organization said it shows officials examining the seat and other debris on a pier at Daingerfield Island.
The boater said “that doesn’t look like an airplane seat” and then asked if they’ve found any survivors. An official shook his head to indicate they hadn’t.
The video ends with a voice telling the boater to call a specific number if he finds anything else.
“If it’s material, sure thing, you know, you want to take possession,” the voice said, “if it’s a human body, just stay with it, don’t touch it.”
In a separate video ABC News obtained, an Alexandria police officer is searching the banks of the Potomac River for debris and telling people not to take anything from the water.
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