No survivors expected

All passengers and crew on both aircraft are feared dead, officials said Thursday morning. Doznes of bodies have been recovered from the Potomac River, and the operation has become a major recovery effort.

The flight carried several elite figure skaters from both the U.S. and Russia who were traveling back from a competition in Wichita.

Two Russian world champions were also among the passengers on the American Eagle flight, Russian state media reported.

U.S. Figure Skating said the athletes were returning from a training camp in Wichita, Kansas.

By Tuesday morning, officials said that at least two dozen bodies had been pulled from the water. Of those, 27 were from the American Eagle civilian jet and one from the U.S. Black Hawk helicopter, officials said.

Boats and ambulances were transporting human remains to a temporary morgue, and the D.C. medical examiner said the recovery operation is the largest undertaken it had taken in decades.