NTSB's Inman says that investigators will treat all recovered victims' mobile phones and other devices "with dignity".

"If we feel that it's necessary to find or pull some of that information we'll work with the families, and make sure that we do it in a manner that's respectful for them and their privacy," he stresses.

And with that the news briefing held by the National Transportation Safety Board comes to a close, as its members promise to provide more updates in the future.

Stick with us as we bring you up to speed with all the key details we've learned in the past hour.

Inman is asked about the helicopter procedures in that area, and he says that Washington DC has "kind of a unique environment" and has what are known as helicopter tracks.

He says he believes the helicopter was transiting from track one to four as part of their normal procedure, saying DC has a lot of helicopters in that area and there is a "very well-defined system".

Until they get more information he cannot validate or corroborate speculation about the helicopter's altitude, he says.

Inman is now asked whether there is a chance that there are any survivors. The NTSB member says they expect to find no survivors, but they are still working to examine the "debris field".

He says that there is no evidence that anyone attempted to evacuate from the plane.

"Nothing we've seen would indicate that maybe slides or chutes were deployed," he says.

"It was a very quick rapid impact."

Image source, Reuters

Todd Inman is now taking a question from a reporter about black boxes - which is a device in planes that records flight data - in the aircraft.

"We have not yet recovered any of the boxes yet," Inman says, adding that the National Transportation Safety Board (NSTB) feels "confident" that it will.

He tells reporters that he understands the military helicopter involved in the aircraft collision has a recording device.

Inman is taking another question from journalists about air traffic control.

He says that the NSTB received a "large packet of information" at around 03:00 local time (08:00 GMT) and it is still being analysed.

The NTSB is next asked about President Donald Trump's earlier news conference.

During that briefing, the president blamed diversity rules under his predecessors, saying he believes people hired for air traffic control roles were not always qualified - but offered no evidence for this.

It's put to the NTSB if remarks like those can harm an active investigation.

Chairwoman Homendy says that "the press also likes to state what probable causes are before we get to the probable cause".

"You need to give us time," she says, adding that the substantial amount of information the board already has needs to be verified.

Image source, Reuters

The NTSB's Jennifer Homendy says the flight's data recorders have not been recovered yet and are still underwater, which she says is not an unusual situation for the investigative agency to face.

Once they have them they will be able to read them and that will provide further information, she says.

• For context: We had previously brought you information overnight that CBS, the BBC's US news partner, had reported that investigators had recovered debris that appeared to be one of the plane's black boxes. Officials are now saying that no black boxes have yet been found.

The NTSB plans to create several individual groups of investigators who will work together to do a reconstruction of what happened on Wednesday night.

The investigate agency will take into consideration the actions of multiple players, including air traffic control, the military helicopter and the passenger plane.

"They will study the crew performance," says Inman, before he lists a number of possible human and equipment factors that could have played a role, including: "human error including fatigue, medication, medical histories, training, workload, equipment, design, and work environment".

Inman tells the media that the DC medical examiner will be in charge of providing the names of people who have died in Wednesday's collision.

He adds that the National Transportation Safety Board will be briefing the affected families later today.

"A loss of life in an aviation accident is very unusual in the United States, and our heartfelt sorrow goes out to everyone affected," he says.

Image source, NTSB

Todd Inman, NTSB board member and spokesperson for the investigation, is now speaking.

He says that "our intention is to have a preliminary report within 30 days".

A final report, he notes, will be issued "once we've completed all the fact-finding investigations".

He adds that the goal of the investigative team is not just to understand what happened, but why it happened.

The NTSB's Homendy says they were at the site of the crash last night, but have been allowing the first responders to carry out their work.

Today has been the NTSB's first full day on the scene, she says, adding they have about 50 people there in addition to the resources back at their headquarters.

They are not going to get into specific facts in this news conference, she says, adding that they will be going through their investigative process.

They will provide factual information as they are able to confirm it and will not be determining the probable cause while at the scene, she says.

Image source, NTSB

Jennifer Homendy, the chairwoman of the NTSB, starts the news conference by first sending "our deepest condolences, our sympathies, on behalf of the entire board for those that lost loved ones in this terrible tragedy".

"Entire communities were affected, and we're thinking of you," she says.

She is speaking as many members of NTSB board stand behind her.

She calls it an "all hands on deck" event and vows to "leave no stone unturned" in the investigation.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is about to begin a news conference on the Washington DC crash.

Earlier, President Trump said the independent investigative government agency is one of the bodies that will be tasked with investigating the incident.

We'll be bringing you updates throughout, and you can follow along by pressing watch live at the top of this page.

Carl Nasman
BBC News

A bit earlier today, I was speaking with Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin. I asked him if he believed measures were in place to prevent future accidents like this, and he told me that recovering the victims' bodies is the highest priority right now.

"What I do know is the NTSB [National Transportation Safety Board], American Airlines and everybody that is working so exhaustively overnight and through the day is focused on making sure that every lost life is recovered and reunited with their family," he told me.

"That is our top priority," he said, adding that he has been speaking with other regional leaders - including the mayor of Washington DC, the governor of Maryland and the White House - "to make sure that every resource" is available to first responders.

"We're gonna make sure that these families know that we're praying for them, and that we'll do everything we can to let them know they're loved and supported," he says.

Speaking at a news conference a little earlier, President Trump said Russian nationals were onboard the flight that crashed in Washington DC.

We've now heard from the Russian embassy in the US, which has sent its condolences to the families of those killed in the crash.

It also says American authorities have expressed their "readiness to help" with the transfer of remains back to Russia.

During that same news conference, Trump also said people of other nationalities were on the flight, but he did not provide specifics.

Rachel Looker
Reporting from Arlington

I just spoke with Giorgio Ko, another neighbour in my apartment building who came to the roof during his lunch. He wanted to see the current status of the crash scene.

Ko says he was home last night when he thought he heard a loud boom while watching TV. He didn't think anything of it until his mom texted him and told him to look at the news.

Ko then went to the roof with his girlfriend to see what had happened.

"I've never seen anything like this. I was born in the area," he says, referencing the countless emergency response vehicles that were blaring their sirens en route to the airport.

The recovery operation is continuing at the crash site on the Potomac River in Washington DC. Here's a look at some of the latest photos, as workers recover pieces of the wreckage:

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

Rachel Looker
Reporting from Arlington

I just spoke with one of my neighbors, Kaylyn Thompson, on the rooftop of my apartment building in Arlington, Virginia. We have a clear view of the airport and the Potomac River where the plane crashed.

Thompson tells me one of her friends was supposed to be on the doomed flight. Her friend had a meeting run late and ended up missing it.

"She's so shaken up and I'm even shaken up because it lets you know that life is so fragile and one impediment in your day - if you're redirected... if you're late to something, it's probably for a reason," she tells me.

Thompson was texting with the friend about upcoming plans when her brother told her there was a plane crash. She looked out her window and saw the large emergency response in the Potomac.

In an area with constant helicopter and airplane traffic, she says she's wondering how an accident like this could happen.

"Today's a heavy, heavy day," she says.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

As we've been reporting, Trump repeatedly suggested that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes may have contributed to the crash - although he acknowledged that the investigation is still at its very early stages.

In his remarks, he referenced the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) hiring of people with "severe intellectual" disabilities and other mental or physical issues.

A website for the FAA's diversity and inclusion hiring programme appears to have been taken down in December.

An archived version of the site, however, shows that the FAA was seeking people with "targeted disabilities" that the federal government was prioritising for recruitment at the time.

The website specifically referenced hearing and vision issues, as well as "missing extremities, partial paralysis, completely paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism".

Trump read from this list, verbatim, during the news conference.

However, the programme listed on the site appears to be for the whole FAA, and does not specifically appear to be for air traffic control roles.

The archived website also shows that the FAA was offering non-competitive "on-the-spot" hiring for veterans and people with disabilities.

The recruitment website was the subject of considerable media attention at the time, particularly from conservative US news outlets.

In a statement sent to Fox at the time, the FAA said that "like many large employers, the agency proactively seeks qualified candidates from as many sources as possible, all of whom must meet rigorous qualifications that of course will vary by position".

As we've already reported, the helicopter involved in last night's crash was a military helicopter from the 12th Aviation Battalion.

It was performing a training mission at the time - although Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says this shouldn't be interpreted to mean the crew was inexperienced, and that the pilots had many years of experience.

Earlier in the news conference, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the ranks of the three soldiers killed - he said they were a young captain, staff sergeant and chief warrant officer.

Trump's quick pivot to politics and blamepublished at 17:43 Greenwich Mean Time 30 January

17:43 GMT 30 January

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent

Donald Trump stood before the White House press room cameras on Thursday to perform a traditional presidential duty - consoler in chief during a time of tragedy. Then he provided yet another reminder of how his new presidency is going to be very different.

After offering his condolences for the loss of life in the mid-air crash Wednesday night in Washington, Trump quickly pivoted to blaming what he claimed were low standards of hiring for air traffic controllers in the Federal Aviation Administration during the Biden presidency.

Trump and his fellow Republicans have regularly lashed out at “diversity, equity and inclusion” programmes in the federal government – efforts to recruit and support a more diverse government workforce. And less than 24 hours after the first major US air disaster in decades, Trump – along with his secretaries of transportation and defence, and his vice president – took turns hammering the point, even as they provided little evidence that federal hiring practices had any connection to this particular crash.

“It just could have been,” Trump said at one point. And he had suggested DEI was to blame “because I have common sense”.

The FAA has dealt with shortages of air traffic controllers for years – a fact that would undercut his assertion that the administration’s ranks have been filled with less-qualified employees.

Two things were very clear from Trump’s remarks on Thursday. The first is that his eagerness to inject himself into a major news story is undiminished in his new term. And the second is that in his view it is never too soon to inject politics into national tragedy – and use it to attack opponents and advance his agenda.