Good Morning Britain viewers were left grasping for tissues as Kate Garraway abruptly halted the live broadcast to share devastating “breaking” news.

On Thursday’s instalment of the beloved ITV breakfast programme, Kate alongside her co-anchor Richard Madeley faced the sad duty of informing the public of a catastrophic event, as they shared the tragic update that an airplane had catastrophically collided with a helicopter over Washington DC, both plummeting into the Potomac River below.

Kate delivered the shattering update: “This is what you are waking up to this morning, some breaking news that happened in the last few hours. An American Airlines passenger jet has crashed into a US Army Black Hawk helicopter.”

Kate Garraway paused the live ITV show to announce some ‘breaking’ news ( 
Image:
ITV)
She went on to detail the dreadful ordeal, revealing: “The jet was reportedly carrying 60 passengers and 4 crew members, while three US Army soldiers were on board the helicopter.”

Picking up the grim narrative, Richard elaborated: “This mid-air collision happened near Washington Ronald Reagan Airport and a massive search and rescue operation is currently underway in the river. It has now been reported that 18 bodies have been recovered from the crash, mostly from that river and no survivors have been found so far.”

Visibly shocked viewers were then confronted with live footage from the catastrophic scene in Washington DC, after which coverage switched to North America correspondent Noel Phillips, poised to deliver further live updates from New York City.

Following the heartrending announcement, emotional responses swiftly flooded the internet, as distressed fans expressed their sympathies, many resorting to posting crying emojis amidst their shock, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Kate Garraway abruptly halted the live broadcast to share devastating “breaking” news. ( 
Image:
ITV)
Another viewer took to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, to express their shock: “Nobody would survive, there was a huge explosion and the plane fell into the freezing river so even if someone survived the blast they wouldn’t have lasted long at all in the ice cold water # gmb.” (sic)

A GMB enthusiast commented on the fragility of life: “Life is just fragile,you just never know when it will be your last day in this world, we have to be grateful everyday,life is just fragile,i hope they are survivors #gmb.” (sic)

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has been briefed on the “terrible accident” and is keeping a close eye on developments.

“May God Bless their souls,” he stated. “Thank you for the incredible work being done by our first responders. On TruthSocial, his own social media platform, Trump has also questioned the circumstances leading up to the tragedy. “This is a bad situation that looks like it should have been prevented. NOT GOOD! ” (sic)