Crews have begun removing wreckage from the Potomac River from the deadly midair collision last week that killed 67 people. Col. Francis B. Pera of the Army Corps of Engineers says portions of the aircraft will be loaded onto flatbed trucks and taken to a hangar for further investigation.

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Crews were on scene on the Potomac River on Monday to retrieve the submerged wreckage of an airliner and an Army helicopter that collided midair last week in the deadliest US air disaster since 2001.

Wreckage from the midair collision near Reagan National Airport is being removed Monday from the Potomac River as officials still look for 12 victims.

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.

Debris was removed from the Potomac River near Washington DC on Monday after two aircraft collided over the river on Wednesday night near the Ronald Reagan Airport.

Conditions of the Potomac River Saturday have improved as officials recover the remains of people who died in the collision.