Eighteen bodies have been pulled from the Potomac River so far, where search and rescue teams are scouring the waters in freezing temperatures, according to the BBC’s broadcast partner, CBS.

US authorities are investigating and the nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport has grounded all flights.

At around 21:00 local time (02:00 GMT) on Wednesday, a PSA Airlines jet operating as American Airlines 5432 collided with a US Army helicopter as it approached Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The passenger plane, a Bombardier CRJ700, departed from Wichita, Kansas and was carrying 60 passengers and four crew, according to American Airlines.

The Pentagon said the helicopter involved was a Sikorsky H-60 that took off from Fort Belvoir in Virginia. Three US soldiers were on board, according to CBS.

The FAA said it would investigate the incident, together with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

There has been no official word on casualties. However, CBS reported that 18 bodies have been pulled from the water.

Early reports on US media said the passenger plane could be seen split in half on the Potomac River, while the helicopter was upside down in the water.

Police and fire department have been searching the water for survivors in freezing temperatures, with police boats assisting, CBS News reported.

The search and rescue could be seen from Ronald Reagan Airport, which is near the river.

Ari Schulman told NBC Washington that he saw the plane crash while driving on the George Washington Parkway, which runs along the airport.

He said the plane’s approach looked normal, until he saw the aircraft bank hard to the right, with “streams of sparks” running underneath, illuminating its belly.

At that point, he said he knew that it looked “very, very wrong”. Having seen plane landings there in the past, he said a plane’s underside should not have been visible in the dark.

The sparks, he said, resembed a “giant roman candle” and went from the plane’s nose to its tail.

Jimmy Mazeo said he saw the crash while having dinner with his girlfriend at a park near the airport.

He recalled seeing what looked like a “white flare” in the sky. He said planes flying into Ronald Reagan Airport appeared to have been flying in “irregular patterns”.

Mr Mazeo said he did not think much of what he saw until emergency services started arriving at the scene.

President Donald Trump said he had been fully briefed on the the “terrible accident” and that he was monitoring the situation closely.

“May God Bless their souls,” he said in a statement.

“Thank you for the incredible work being done by our first responders,” he said.

Vice-President JD Vance asked for prayers for those who were in the incident.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, whose appointments were just recently confirmed, also said they were monitoring the situation.

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom expressed his “deep sorrow” about the collision in a video which has been posted to the airline’s website.

The nationwide halt was cancelled just before 13:00 GMT, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The disruption came during one of the busiest travel days of the year as passengers made journeys on Christmas Eve.

In a statement, the airline said a “vendor technology issue” had caused the issue and it was “all hands on deck” to minimise further disruption.

“We sincerely apologise to our customers for the inconvenience this morning,” the airline said.

“It’s all hands on deck as our team is working diligently to get customers where they need to go as quickly as possible.”

Flights are still showing delays as the airline recovers from the nationwide issue, but real-time tracking website Flightradar24 shows planes taking off again at a number of major US travel hubs.

Passengers reported on social media being stuck on the tarmac or at gates as flights were impacted by the outage for around an hour.

In a video posted on X by a CBS reporter in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a gate agent announced a flight to Philadelphia was going to start boarding.

“The system is slowly coming back,” the agent announced from a gate.

In July, American Airlines, among other major operators, grounded flights across the US due to communication issues caused by a global IT crash.

That failure – which also affected banks and emergency services – was caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike.