This is the heartbreaking moment a sightseeing helicopter carrying a Spanish family on holiday crashed into the Hudson River in New York, killing all six people aboard.
Agustin Escobar, head of Siemens in Spain, and his family, including wife Merce Camprubi Montal and three children, perished in the crash, along with the helicopter’s pilot.
Mobile phone footage of the disaster showed the helicopter falling through the air before crashing upside down in the water at speed just after 3.15pm local time on Thursday.
Seconds later, a spiralling helicopter blade and other debris from the flight also crashed into the water near the New Jersey coastline.
A haunting picture of the family has emerged shortly before they took off on the doomed flight, which lasted less than 18 minutes before the aircraft started “falling apart” in the sky.
Divers pulled the pilot and family of five from the water following the crash, and two of the passengers were alive at that stage.
They later died in hospital, New York City’s police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, said at a news conference.
The Bell 206 chopper, operated by New York Helicopter Tours, departed at about 3pm ET (8pm UK time) from a downtown helicopter pad and flew north over the Hudson River, Ms Tisch said.
It turned south when it reached the George Washington Bridge and crashed minutes later, hitting the water upside down and sinking near Lower Manhattan about 3.15pm, just off Hoboken, New Jersey, she added.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the tour helicopter was in a Special Flight Rules Area established in New York, which means no air traffic control services were being provided when it crashed.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate, with the NTSB leading the investigation.
Mr Duffy said the FAA was also launching a Safety Review Team on Thursday evening. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy and a team from the board will arrive in New York on Thursday and plan to hold a media briefing on Friday.
In 2018, five passengers aboard a helicopter died in New York when the aircraft crashed into the East River, while the pilot survived. The helicopter was on a charter flight that featured an open door to allow passengers to take photographs of the skyline.
A New York City Police spokesperson said police boats had assisted in Thursday's rescue efforts.
Helicopter safety has been a topic of discussion in the U.S. Congress after 67 people were killed in the crash of an American Airlines regional jet and Army helicopter on January 29 near Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. The FAA has since permanently restricted helicopter traffic near that airport and is reviewing helicopter operations near other major airports.
