A top Siemens executive, his wife and their three children died when a tourist helicopter broke apart in midair and crashed into the Hudson River in New York.
Agustin Escobar, head of Siemens in Spain, and his family, including wife Merce Camprubi Montal, perished in the crash, along with the helicopter’s pilot.
The family were on holiday in New York to celebrate the birthday of one of their children, according to Spanish newspaper El Diario.
See also: Everything we know about the New York helicopter crash
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.
New York mayor Eric Adams said the flight began at a downtown heliport around 3pm, and the victims had been recovered and removed from the water.
The flight took the aircraft north along the Manhattan skyline and then back south toward the Statue of Liberty.
Witness Bruce Wall said he saw the helicopter “falling apart” in midair, with the tail and propeller coming off.
Dani Horbiak was at her home in Jersey City, New Jersey, when she heard what sounded like “several gunshots in a row, almost, in the air”.
She looked out her window and saw the chopper “splash in several pieces into the river”.
The helicopter was spinning uncontrollably with “a bunch of smoke coming out” before it slammed into the water, said Lesly Camacho, a hostess at a restaurant along the river in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Video of the crash showed parts of the chopper tumbling through the air into the water.
The overturned aircraft was submerged, with rescue boats circling it, near the end of a long maintenance pier for a ventilation tower serving the Holland Tunnel on the New Jersey side of the river.
The flight was operated by New York Helicopters, officials said.
No one answered the phones at the company’s offices in New York and New Jersey.
A person who answered the phone at the home of the company’s owner, Michael Roth, declined to comment.
However, Mr Roth told the New York Post he was devastated and had “no clue” why the crash happened.
“The only thing I know by watching a video of the helicopter falling down, that the main rotor blades weren’t on the helicopter,” the Post quoted him as saying.
He added that he had not seen such a thing happen during his 30 years in the helicopter business, but noted: “These are machines, and they break”.
Emails seeking comment were sent to lawyers who have represented Mr Roth in the past.
The Federal Aviation Administration identified the helicopter as a Bell 206, a model widely used in commercial and government aviation, including by sightseeing companies, TV news stations and police.
It was initially developed for the US Army before being adapted for other uses. Thousands have been manufactured over the years.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it would investigate.
Video of the crash suggested that a “catastrophic mechanical failure” left the pilot with no chance to save the helicopter, said Justin Green, an aviation lawyer who was a helicopter pilot in the Marine Corps.
It is possible the helicopter’s main rotors struck the tail boom, breaking it apart and causing the cabin to free-fall, Mr Green said.
“They were dead as soon as whatever happened, happened,” Mr Green said.
“There’s no indication they had any control over the craft. No pilot could have prevented that accident once they lost the lifts. It’s like a rock falling to the ground. It’s heartbreaking.”
The skies over Manhattan are routinely filled with planes and helicopters, both private recreational aircraft and commercial and tourist flights.
Manhattan has several helipads from which business executives and others are whisked to destinations throughout the metropolitan area.
Thursday’s crash was the first for a helicopter in the city since one hit the roof of a skyscraper in 2019, killing the pilot.
At least 38 people have died in helicopter accidents in New York City since 1977.
