Two airport workers arrested after 'leaked footage' of tragic American Airlines crash was released

Two airport workers have been arrested after allegedly leaking footage of the horror American Airlines crash.

A chilling video of the moment that the passenger plane collided with a US military helicopter began circulating in the days after the tragedy on 29 January.

The two clips, which were obtained exclusively by CNN, clearly showed the devastating mid-air crash in detail.

The news outlet explained that 'both aircraft can clearly be seen flying towards each other, then exploding and falling into the river after the fatal explosion'.

Officials confirmed they were not expecting to find any survivors after the crash, which sent both the plane and the helicopter plummeting into the Potomac River.

Recovery efforts remain ongoing to retrieve the bodies of the 64 people travelling on the American Airlines jet and the three soldiers on the helicopter.

US authorities believe that two Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) employees leaked the footage of the deadly crash to CNN, according to ABC News.

The pair have reportedly been charged with computer trespass after allegedly making an unauthorised copy of the footage from Airports Authority records.

The footage obtained by CNN captured the moment the aircraft collided and exploded (CNN)

Mohamed Lamine Mbengue was arrested two days after the crash on 31 January and charged with computer trespass under Virginia law, Fox 5 reports.

The 21-year-old, from Rockville, Maryland, was booked into the Arlington County Adult Detention Center and later released, an MWAA spokesperson said.

On Sunday (2 February), police then arrested Jonathan Savoy on the same charge.

The 45-year-old, from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, was released on a summons by a magistrate.

Police did not specify how the pair allegedly obtained or distributed the footage.

LADbible has contacted the MWAA for comment.

Crews began the precarious process of removing pieces of the wreckages from the Potomac River on Monday (3 February), using large cranes to haul them out of the water.

Officials have started to remove the wreckages from the Potomac River (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The debris will be loaded onto trucks and taken away for further analysis.

The black boxes have already been recovered from both the plane and the helicopter, which will hopefully allow investigators to piece together what went wrong in the air.

In the latest update, officials said the bodies of 55 of the 67 victims had been recovered so far.

Emergency responders have spoken out about the huge mental toll retrieving the bodies has taken on them, with one firefighter saying that crews were 'emotionally wiped out'.

Over 300 responders are involved in the efforts at any given time, authorities said previously.

The investigation into the tragedy remains ongoing.