WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Washington D.C. fire chief said Thursday that there are likely no survivors in the mid-air collision of a passenger plane and helicopter near Reagan National Airport Wednesday night.

"We are now at a point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation. At this point, we don't believe there are any survivors from this accident," John Donnelly, chief of the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, told a press conference at the airport Thursday morning.

The American Airlines plane had 60 passengers and four crew members, while three U.S. Army soldiers were onboard the Black Hawk helicopter.

Donnelly said that at 8:48 p.m. local time (0148 GMT Thursday) last night, the control tower sounded an alert, notifying responders about a reported aircraft crash on or near the airport, noting that about 300 rescuers responded to the accident.

"These responders found extremely frigid conditions. They found heavy wind. They found ice on the water, and they operated all night in those conditions," Donnelly said.

"We have recovered 27 people from the plane and one from the helicopter," said the fire chief. "The crash area is a little spread out, so we've got some work to do."

At the press conference, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that the helicopter was following a "standard" flight pattern last night and the passenger plane was also on a "standard" approach as it was coming into D.C., without specifying what went wrong before the deadly collision.

Duffy noted that the National Transportation Safety Board will begin analyzing the aircraft in partnership with the Federal Aviation Administration.

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said American Eagle flight 5342, operated by PSA Airlines, traveling from Wichita, Kansas, to Reagan National Airport, was involved in the accident just before 9 p.m. local time (0200 GMT Thursday) on its final approach into the airport.

"They collided with a military aircraft on 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.

The transportation secretary stated that there was no breakdown in communication. When asked whether the plane was aware of the helicopter, Duffy did not answer directly but mentioned that the helicopter was aware of the plane's presence in the area.

Jack Carter, chief executive of Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority -- the authority that manages the airport, reaffirmed that the airport will reopen at 11 a.m. local time (1600 GMT). Enditem

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