mid—air into collided mid—air into a helicopter just seconds from landing. 67 people were on board. a major rescue operation is now underway. >> active operation. it's going to last many hours as we continue to work through recovery efforts and rescue operations. >> hope is fading because of the challenging conditions and freezing cold are disrupting rescuers as families share their devastation and their hope. >> i'm just praying that somebody's pulling her out of the river right now as we speak. that's all i can pray for. i'm just praying to god. >> when was the last time you spoke with him.7 >> spoke with him? >> she texted me. we were saying that they were landing in 20 minutes. >> awful questions are now turning to how this could have happened. as the ceo of american airlines has spoken out about the tragedy. >> this is a difficult day for all of us at american airlines, and our efforts now are focused entirely on the needs of our passengers, crew members,

partners, first responders along with their families and loved ones. >> also coming up, a gb news exclusive as our very own mark white joins an immigration raid to find out how many illegal migrants are exploiting an eu loophole to enter britain. >> officer, have you got a work visa. >> for six months now? >> for six months now? >> six months visit visa. yes. okay. right. you're not allowed to work with that okay. so at the moment okay. under arrest. >> and shoplifting. crime on the rise a surge in shoplifting being reported, 2000 incidents a day. can you believe it? businesses are crying out for help. but what do we do? the son, of course, will be rising in washington, dc. we'll bnng rising in washington, dc. we'll bring you the images as we see them of what is happening there.

as we say, it's a still officially a rescue operation, but looking more bleak by the moment. >> and it was a military helicopter, believe it or not, on a training flight that was in collision with the american airlines plane. >> had it only just been a few more metres towards the coast, as opposed to over the water to the banking then could have been. >> the plane was just seconds away from landing. tragic. and we will bring all the latest on that. >> that's right. gbnews.com/yoursay for your contributions this morning. first though, aaron armstrong with the latest news. >> very good morning to you. our top story, as you've just been hearing, a search and rescue operation is underway in washington, dc after a passenger plane crashed into the potomac river after colliding with a us army helicopter. now, these are the latest live shots from the us capitol and more than 300 emergency responders are searching for survivors. 64 people, including crew, were on

the american airlines flight. three soldiers were on board the black hawk helicopter, and at least 19 bodies have already been recovered. we can show you some footage of the plane coming in to land at reagan washington national airport, seconds before the collision. the helicopter was on a training flight when the crash happened just before 9 pm. local time. it is the first p.m. local time. it is the first major us commercial air crash since 2009. three israeli hostages and five thai nationals held in gaza are expected to be released by hamas this morning. the 20 year old agam berger, a female soldier, has already been handed over to the red cross by hamas in what appears to be another carefully choreographed scene. the 20 year old was released in jabalia. that's in northern gaza. a little earlier, she was then transferred to the israeli military and to the border, where two civilians, 29

year old arbel yehud and an 80 year old arbel yehud and an 80 year old arbel yehud and an 80 year old man, gadi moses, are also due to be released after more than 15 months in captivity in exchange for the hostages, 110 palestinians will be freed later from israeli jails. they'll be released near ramallah in the occupied west bank. now to some other news. water bills set to rise in england and wales by an average of £123 per household from april. it means a typical bill will rise by about 26%, so from £480 per year to around 603. now the industry body water uk says the industry body water uk says the extra money will fund infrastructure projects and will provide help for struggling customers. but consumer groups are warning the rise means more households will fall into debt. the increase surpasses ofwat recent five year price limits due to inflation. increasing numbers of people from the eu are abusing the common travel arrangement with ireland to

enter the uk to work illegally. gb news can exclusively reveal many romanians and bulgarians in particular, are avoiding border checks by crossing from the republic, while others are simply arriving on tourist visas before finding work. a gb news was given exclusive access to a company. immigration enforcement teams, who've increased the number of raids they've carried out by a third since labour came to power, and donald trump says he has signed an executive order to set up a migrant detention facility at guantanamo bay in cuba.the facility at guantanamo bay in cuba. the us president sets up up to 30,000 migrants who cannot be returned to their home countries, will be held at the notorious naval base. he says the centre, which would be separate from its high security military prison, will house, in his words, the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the american people. guantanamo bay was set up in 2002 by then—president george w bush to hold detainees in the wake of 9/11 and the war on terror.

those are the latest gb news headlines. i'll be back with more in about half an hour's time. >> for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com/alerts. >> good morning, bev and andrew with you until midday. the breaking news, of course, that you might be waking up to this morning is that this tragedy in washington, dc, a passenger jet washington, dc, a passengerjet with 67 people on board, has crashed into the potomac river only two miles from the white house. this is after colliding with a us army helicopter. >> so far, they've recovered 19 bodies from the wreckage and the river. coast guard, police divers and ambulance units remain at the scene. >> new details are emerging this morning. of course, the sun will be coming up in washington, dc whilst we are on air. a us figure skating organisation has confirmed that several members

of the ice skating community were on board the plane. >> as well as a married russian figure skating champions. well, let's talk to an airline pilot and author of confessions of an airline pilot. why planes crash. >> terry tozer. morning, terry. >> terry tozer. morning, terry. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> morning. why in in your assessment, in this situation, might this have happened? we've got a commercial airliner here with civilian passengers on it, and then we've got a military helicopter who would have right of way under that situation. >> well, the passenger jet, i suppose you would say, have a right of way. although basically this is a not an uncommon situation in the us where they seem to mix traffic that is under the control of the air traffic controller and traffic thatis traffic controller and traffic that is transiting the area

visually. so the passenger jet, visually. so the passengerjet, as far as i understand, it, was given clearance to land. and so i doubt whether the crew were taking much notice of anybody who might have been coming at them from the side. it seems that the helicopter crew were given responsibility to separate themselves from other traffic, which, you know, is sometimes a questionable procedure. >> how busy is this airport, the ronald reagan airport? terry? >> very busy. like all us airports at major cities. there is always a kind of a sense of them, you know, getting an awful lot of traffic into a small area. it's always very busy in the us, the air traffic control system has been under a bit of strain. they've been short of controllers. i'm not sure whether that would have had any impact in this case, but the temptation to try and get a lot of traffic through an area is

quite is very american, i'm afraid. and, you know, i think that that perhaps there will be some questions asked about the general procedure that was involved in this case. >> it was 9 pm. local time in washington, dc. obviously, that city is five hours behind where we are now. we'll be watching the sun coming up in the next in the sun coming up in the next in the next few hours. terry, what will be happening there now in terms of a rescue operation? >> well, i'm sure that the very first responders, well, we know they were already there on the scene. the national transportation safety board accident investigators will have been called immediately. and i would imagine they're probably already on the scene. what seems at first sight to have been an issue, when we look at first sight to have be