Just offshore of the towering national monuments of Washington, a tall crane now hovers over the Potomac River. It casts a large shadow over the effort to understand what caused the collision of a passenger jet and a military helicopter last Wednesday as a new phase of the recovery starts.

Crews using a crane lifted the first pieces of wreckage from the downed American Airlines regional jet from the Potomac River on Monday morning as rescue workers sought to recover all 67 bodies from the crash site near Ronald Reagan National Airport.

Crews have begun removing wreckage from the Potomac River from the deadly midair collision last week that killed 67 people. Col. Francis B.

Salvage crews have recovered an engine and large pieces of fuselage and are working to retrieve a wing from wreckage of last week’s midair collision near Washington’s Reagan National Airport

The remains of all 67 victims of last week’s midair collision between an American Airlines jet and a U.S. Army helicopter have been pulled from the Potomac River, authorities announced Tuesday. A total of 60 passengers and four crew members were on board American Eagle Flight 5342,