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00:00After a helicopter crash at Washington DC airport, more than 30 bodies have been taken out of the river near Potomac.
00:08Rescue and search operations are underway. According to the rescue teams, no one was spared.
00:13At the moment, our bureau chief, Jahanzaib Ali, is with us from the airport in Washington DC. Let's hear from him.
00:20Right now, I am at the Reagan airport in Washington DC.
00:24Last night, a horrific incident took place.
00:27A helicopter crashed into a passenger plane from the Pentagon.
00:34This airport is located near the Pentagon.
00:38This is the entire Potomac river, which is around this building.
00:43When this plane crashed into the helicopter, it fell into the river in two pieces in the air, killing all the passengers.
00:54There were 60 passengers in this plane, 4 crew members, while 3 people were in the helicopter.
01:01They were hit by this plane during the training flight.
01:05This tragic incident happened just a few minutes before the plane landed.
01:10It is being said that the rescuers are trying to find the survivors.
01:15But right now, when I am telling you these details, all hopes of any survivor have been shattered.
01:20There are no survivors.
01:22Only corpses are being found in the river.
01:25Rescue work is underway.
01:27As you can see, this is the air traffic control tower at the airport.
01:32This tragic incident took place just a few minutes away from this tower.
01:37Investigations are ongoing.
01:39Many things are being revealed in this regard.
01:42Just a few minutes ago, US President Donald Trump held a press conference.
01:46He said that this incident was the result of a mistake.
01:51One important thing is that a South Asian family is also involved in this incident.
02:01Asra Hussain, who was in this passenger plane, has been killed in this incident.
02:08In addition, a large number of people are still looking for her.
02:14More than 30 bodies have been found.
02:17The rest are being searched.
02:20Many rescue teams are busy right now.
02:23You can see them in the images.
02:25Just a few minutes ago, President Donald Trump held a press conference in a White House.
02:29He expressed his regret over this tragic incident.
02:33But the way he was holding the press conference,
02:36the American media is criticizing him.
02:39They were saying that the helicopter would have gone that way or that way.
02:43Or how did it happen?
02:45Is the air traffic control responsible for this?
02:48Or is the training flight of the Pentagon responsible for this?
02:51Or is the pilot responsible for this?
02:53Investigations are still being held in this regard.
02:57But one important thing that Donald Trump said is that a diversity program is also responsible for this incident.
03:05This is a program in which people of different races and ethnicities are hired in American institutions.
03:12The Biden administration said that people of all races and ethnicities should be hired in all institutions.
03:20Donald Trump said in his press conference that this is also a big reason.
03:29Instead of prioritizing diversity, professionalism should have been prioritized.
03:36And such people should be placed in air traffic control.
03:40And such pilots should be extremely professional.
03:43There should be no room for error.
03:45Anyway, there is another debate on whether the FAA has prioritized diversity or professionalism.
03:56Another research that has come forward is that about 530 people were saved from the accident last year.
04:04A lot of work has been done on what steps should be taken to avoid such accidents.
04:11Anyway, it was a very sad incident.
04:14And on a large scale, no one was left alive.
04:17Neither the helicopter of the Pentagon nor this passenger plane.
04:22To talk about this, let's talk to American journalist Sarah Killian.
04:52So do you really think that whenever we come here at this airport, because Pentagon is just right near to this airport,
05:04and we always see helicopters on their training exercises.
05:07Do you think it's really safe to have these kind of training exercises on the airport when there are a lot of flights landing here all the time?
05:15I mean, I think the safety record of this airport speaks for itself.
05:19We haven't had a major U.S. commercial airline crash since 2009.
05:25I think that this airport has become busier in recent years, and they're always trying to add more flights to it.
05:32So I think this will certainly be something that they have to think about going forward with this particular airport.
05:39So what do you think about the investigation that's going on?
05:43We see that President Trump is blaming someone.
05:45FBI Director Watts resigned on the 23rd of January.
05:47All this chaos here.
05:49So do you really think that it's a good idea to blame someone?
05:53Like, you know, Pentagon or pilots or diversity is a good idea, or we should wait for the investigation?
05:58Yeah, I would follow the NTSB on their investigation.
06:02I think they're now the lead agency on that.
06:05So they'll direct everybody to go to them for the official investigation.
06:09One last question.
06:10According to my understanding, air traffic control and other systems for the safety of the passengers and for the planes is very good in America, right?
06:18Do you agree with that?
06:19It shouldn't happen.
06:20But do you really think that's very safe in America?
06:22Like all these things?
06:23Yeah, definitely.
06:24Our last commercial aircraft to crash was in 2009.
06:28So that's 16 years ago.
06:30So it's been an unprecedented amount of time for U.S. aviation safety.
06:35Thank you so much.