All 67 passengers aboard both aircraft lost their lives in the tragic mid-air collision. The search for the victims of last week’s DC plane crash is still ongoing.

On Wednesday (January 29), an Army helicopter carrying three soldiers and an American Airlines plane with 64 people on board collided mid-flight.

Both aircraft then plunged into the icy waters of the Potomac River, where rescue teams continue their efforts to recover the deceased.

At the time of writing, 55 out of the 67 victims have been retrieved from the water.

Rescue teams have been working under extremely difficult conditions.

Matthew Schanck, an International Maritime Search and Rescue & Emergency Response Expert, told BBC News: “There’s ice in the river, it’s particularly cold and that makes it very challenging to [rescue] crews.

“There’s not a lot of time to really try and locate any survivors and rescue them because of the cold.”

The freezing water temperatures have been so severe that a diver from the Metropolitan Police Department had to be rushed to the hospital for treatment due to a ‘hypothermia situation.’

Fortunately, the diver has since been released and is recovering well, according to Washington DC Fire and EMS Chief, John Donnelly.