Six people died after a sightseeing helicopter crashed into New York City's Hudson River, near lower Manhattan on Thursday afternoon local time, according to officials.
Agustín Escobar, an infrastructure chief executive for the technology company Siemens, his three children and his wife were pulled from the helicopter or the frigid river but none survived.
The helicopter reportedly broke apart midair and crashed upside down in the river, between Manhattan and New Jersey.
Witness Bruce Wall said he saw the helicopter “falling apart” in midair, with the tail and propeller coming off. The propeller was still spinning without the aircraft as it fell, he said.
Lesly Camacho, a hostess at a restaurant along the river in Hoboken, New Jersey, said she saw the helicopter spinning uncontrollably before it slammed into the water.
“There was a bunch of smoke coming out. It was spinning pretty fast, and it landed in the water really hard,” she said in a phone interview.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) identified the helicopter in question as a seven-seater, single-engine Bell 206. Videos posted to social media showed parts of the chopper splashing into the water, and the overturned aircraft submerged with rescue boats circling it.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the FAA say they will investigate the incident.
The skies over Manhattan are routinely filled with both planes and helicopters, both private recreational aircraft and commercial and tourist flights. Manhattan has several helipads that whisk business executives and others to destinations throughout the metropolitan area.
Over the years, there have been multiple crashes, including a collision between a plane and a tourist helicopter over the Hudson River in 2009 that killed nine people and the 2018 crash of a charter helicopter offering “open door” flights that went down into the East River, killing five people.
This is the latest high-profile aviation disaster in the US. In late January, an American Airlines plane collided with a helicopter on descent in Washington, killing 67 people on board.
The recent crashes and other close calls have left many in the US worried about the safety of flying and calling for greater regulation and safety precautions to minimise and prevent fatal accidents.
