Hudson crash victims' luggage nicely dried after river dunking

SYDNEY - Passengers on a United States Airways flight that ditched in the Hudson River in New York are starting to get their luggage back, dried out and neatly packed inside FedEx boxes.

Flight 1549 ditched in the river on January 15 and all passengers and crew scrambled on to liferafts and rescue boats before the plane sank with their personal belongings.

Perth singer Emma Cowan, 26, travelling abroad for the first time, was leaving New York after a week of sightseeing when the pilot of the Airbus was forced to ditch into the Hudson. Many passengers thought they would never see their belongings again.

But this month, Flight 1549 passengers are starting to get special deliveries of FedEx boxes containing dried and cleaned wallets, handbags, coats, cameras, jewellery, clothing, important papers and even toothbrushes rescued from the waters of the Hudson, USA Today reports.

In a large, complex effort, US Airways has with the help of a Texas company spent four months recovering, sorting, cleaning and restoring 36,000 passenger belongings pulled from the plane when it was recovered from the riverbed.

Inside passenger Karin Hill's FedEx box were her wallet and everything in it, a Swarovski crystal bracelet she was given for Christmas, a digital camera and souvenirs.

Seeing her things again "was bittersweet, because it brought back memories", she says. Although the camera broke, "I never thought I'd get those pictures back, and they were fine."

Days after the accident, US Airways sent every passenger a ticket refund and a US$5000 ($8434) cheque for immediate expenses.

Although much of the multimillion-dollar recovery job will be covered by US Airways' insurance, US Airways was not legally required to do it.

- AAP