Photos posted on the helicopter company’s website showed the couple and their children smiling as they boarded just before the flight took off, ITV News’ Caroline Lewis reports
A family of five Spanish tourists and a pilot have died when a New York City sightseeing helicopter broke apart midair and crashed upside down into the Hudson River on Thursday.
The victims included Siemens executive Agustín Escobar, his wife Mercè Camprubí Montal, their three children, and the helicopter pilot, a person briefed on the investigation anonymously told The Associated Press.
All bodies were recovered from the water, four of the people were pronounced dead at the scene and two later died at the hospital, authorities confirmed.
Photos posted on the helicopter company’s website showed the couple and their children smiling as they boarded just before the flight took off.
The helicopter took off from a downtown Manhattan heliport around 3pm local time (8pm BST) and was in the air for less than 18 minutes.
Radar data shows it flew north along the Manhattan skyline before turning south toward the Statue of Liberty.
Footage of the crash shows debris from the aircraft spiralling into the water off the Jersey City shoreline.
An NYPD helicopter pilot can be heard on air traffic control radio reporting the incident.
They said: “Be advised, you do have an aircraft down. Holland Tunnel. Please keep your eyes open for anybody in the water.”
About five minutes after that, someone asks, “Hey Finest,” a reference to the NYPD’s call sign, “what’s going on over there by the Holland Tunnel?”
“The ship went down,” someone else responds.
Rescue boats reached the crash site within minutes, circling the submerged helicopter near the end of a maintenance pier for a ventilation tower at the Holland Tunnel.
Recovery crews used a floating crane to lift the wreckage from the Hudson River just after 8pm local time (1am BST).
Officials said the flight was operated by New York Helicopter Charter Inc.
Michael Roth, Chief Executive Officer of the helicopter company told ITV News’ US affiliate CNN: “The only thing I can tell you is that we are devastated.
“I’m a father, a grandfather and my wife hasn’t stopped crying since this afternoon.”
Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, called the crash “an unimaginable tragedy” in a post on X on Friday.
“I share in the grief of the victims’ loved ones at this heartbreaking time,” he said.
US President Donald Trump also posted his condolences on Truth Social, saying “God bless the families and friends of the victims”.
The Federal Aviation Administration identified the aircraft as a Bell 206, a widely used model in both commercial and government aviation.
Originally developed for the US Army, it has since been adapted for sightseeing tours, news coverage, and police operations. Thousands have been built over the years.
What may have caused the crash?
Footage of the crash points to a “catastrophic mechanical failure” that gave the pilot no chance to save the aircraft, according to aviation lawyer Justin Green, a former Marine Corps helicopter pilot.
Green said it is possible the main rotor struck the tail boom, causing the helicopter to break apart and the cabin to free fall.
“They were dead as soon as whatever happened, happened,” he 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.
Witnesses describe the helicopter’s plunge into the Hudson
Witness Bruce Wall said he saw the helicopter “falling apart” in mid-air, with the tail and propeller coming off. The propeller was still spinning without the aircraft as it fell, he said.
Dani Horbiak was at her Jersey City home 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, Lesly Camacho, a hostess at a restaurant along the river in Hoboken, New Jersey, said.
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