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       Search crews on the Potomac River near Washington, yesterday. Credit...Kenny Holston/The New York Times

       67 died from midair collision near Washington Recovery teams pulled more than two dozen bodies from icy waters near Washington yesterday after an American Airlines jet collided in midair with an Army helicopter and crashed into the Potomac River. Officials said that there were no survivors.

       The jet carrying 64 people had departed from Wichita, Kan., and the helicopter was carrying three U.S. service members. The collision, which happened Wednesday evening near Ronald Reagan National Airport, was the most serious air disaster involving a commercial jet in the U.S. since 2009.

       Shortly before the collision, the plane’s pilots were asked to pivot their landing route from one runway to another, according to a person briefed on the event and audio recordings of conversations between an air traffic controller and the pilots.

       A preliminary safety report said that staffing at the airport’s air traffic control tower was “not normal.” A controller was handling helicopters and instructing planes, jobs typically assigned to two controllers rather than one.

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       Among the passengers were U.S. and Russian figure skaters who had attended a training camp after the national figure skating championships in Kansas.

       What happened: These maps, graphics and video footage show the final two minutes before the collision.

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