Efforts have shifted from rescue to recovery operations with no survivors expected in the collision of an American Airlines (AAL) regional jet and a military helicopter near Washington, DC, officials said on Thursday.

"We are all hurting incredibly," Robert Isom, chief executive of American Airlines, told reporters in a briefing at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. "Our focus right now is doing everything we can to support all those involved."

John Donnelly, the chief of Washington, DC's fire and emergency medical services, said first responders were met with frigid conditions on the Potomac River late Wednesday. Wind conditions have led to a wide debris field as they continue to search for passengers, with no one expected to have survived, he added.

"All of us are working together to search the areas and find the victims and I'm confident we will do that," he told reporters. The plane, operated by American Airlines subsidiary PSA Airlines, carried 60 passengers and four flight crew members, while three people were on the military helicopter. At least 28 bodies were recovered so far, including one from the helicopter, Donnelly said at the briefing.

"Everything was standard in the lead-up to the crash," US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said. The investigation will be led by the National Transportation Safety Board, which said on X that they have "launched a go-team" to the accident. The PSA Airlines flight was a Bombardier CRJ700 and the helicopter was a Sikorsky H-60. Sikorsky is a unit of Lockheed Martin (LMT).

Isom said the flight, under the American Eagle brand, was on its final approach into Reagan National from Wichita, Kan., just before 9 p.m. local time. It was an "otherwise normal approach and at this time we don't know why the military aircraft came into the path of the PSA aircraft," he said.