BREAKING: At least 30 bodies recovered from Potomac so far after American Airlines crash as search and rescue turns to recovery mission

US figure skaters, including two world champions, were on the flight which was coming in from Wichita, Kansas after participating in the US Figure Skating Championships. Russian figure skaters were also onboard, having been in attendance at a juvenile training session, per the New York Times.

Waltz spoke to a reporter, saying that 30 bodies were recovered. He confirmed that the Black Hawk was on a training flight. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem deployed all available Coast Guard to help with the search and recovery efforts.

"We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts. We will continue to monitor the situation and will release more information as it becomes available,” US Figure Skating said in a statement.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that the flight patterns from the aircraft were standard leading up to the crash: "It was, I would say, standard communication, so there was not a breakdown, if that's your question, in communication between the military helicopter and the American Airlines flight. There was communication between the aircraft and the tower."

The commercial plane was believed to be carrying 60 passengers and four crew members when it was struck by a Black Hawk helicopter on a training mission which was manned by three personnel. The Black Hawk helicopter was directly in the flight path of the plane and was instructed by Air Traffic Control to get out of the way and go behind it. Instead, it collided with it, resulting in a shocking explosion. Both aircraft went down.