WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said that there were some warnings prior to the midair collision of a passenger plane and a helicopter near Reagan National Airport Wednesday night, "but the warnings were given very, very late."

At a press conference in the White House, Trump said he had heard "very scary tapes." "When the air traffic controller said, he was talking about, do you see him? But there was very little time left when that was stated," Trump said, adding that there is also "a pilot problem" from the standpoint of the helicopter.

Trump first reacted to the crash in a Truth Social post after midnight: "The airplane was on a perfect and routine line of approach to the airport. The helicopter was going straight at the airplane for an extended period of time. It is a CLEAR NIGHT, the lights on the plane were blazing, why didn't the helicopter go up or down, or turn. Why didn't the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane."

Also at the press conference, Trump confirmed there are no survivors in the collision.

John Donnelly, chief of the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, told a press conference at the airport Thursday morning that there are likely no survivors.

"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," said Donnelly.

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

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