A tour helicopter, carrying a family of five, crashed into the Hudson River across from Manhattan on Thursday, 10th April.
The incident occurred 16 minutes after the helicopter took off from the Wall Street Heliport.
According to the New York Helicopter Tours CEO, Michael Roth, at 3.17 p.m the pilot dialed the emergency services, reporting a fuel shortage and notifying them of an emergency landing in about 3 minutes.
However, the helicopter never landed, with the devastating incident taking place 20 minutes later.
“He [the pilot] called in that he was landing and that he needed fuel, and it should have taken him about three minutes to arrive, but 20 minutes later, he didn’t arrive,” Roth said.
A video footage shows the aircraft spiraling mid-air before breaking apart in two and plummeting into the Hudson River.
Roth said that the Bell 206 helicopter had been leased from a company in Louisiana and was unsure how it broke apart.
All those on board, including the unidentified pilot, were killed in the deadly crash. The passengers were a family of five from Spain identified as Agustín Escobar, president of Siemens’ Spanish branch, his wife, Merce Camprubi Montal, and their three kids aged 4,5 and 11.
Read this wife’s devastating message to her husband just moments before the plane crash.
Just a few hours prior to the unfortunate event, the family had posed in front of the helicopter, brimming with excitement.
Eye witnesses recalled the horrifying scene, reporting that the helicopter “split in half” before plummeting into the Hudson river.
A few reported that it hit the water without at-least one of its rotor blades.
According to Lesly Camacho, a restaurant worker nearby the river, said she saw the helicopter spinning uncontrollably before plummeting into the Hudson River.
“There was a bunch of smoke coming out. It was spinning pretty fast, and it landed in the water really hard,” she recalled.
Another reported hearing a loud “sonic boom” just moments before the crash.
“It sounded like a sonic boom. I look up, and literally I just see a helicopter splitting in two with the rotor flying off in the sky,” one onlooker told WABC. “It was going so fast, it just went straight into the water. I’ve never seen anything like that in my life.”
Other pilots in the vicinity also began calling and reporting the “helicopter upside down.”
Following the incident, divers recovered the bodies from the water. According to New York Police commissioner Jessica Tisch four victims were pronounced dead at the scene and two succumbed to their injuries later
“Four victims were pronounced dead on scene, and two more were removed to local area hospitals, where sadly both succumbed to their injuries,” she shared.
The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation with the exact cause of the crash still unknown, though weather conditions at the time were reported to be cloudy and windy.
Meanwhile, the Spanish Consulate in New York is closely coordinating with local officials to assist the affected families.
Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, also offered his condolences to the friends and family of the deceased.
“Five Spaniards from the same family, three of them children, lost their lives along with the pilot. It’s an unimaginable tragedy. I share the pain of the victims’ loved ones in this heartbreaking moment.”
Michael Roth also revealed that his wife and company employees were left devastated.
“We’re all devastated. Every employee in our company is devastated. My wife has not stopped crying. The death of the child of any human being, is a monumental disaster.”
However, he adds that sometimes machines do break.
“I have no clue. I don’t know. This is horrific. But you gotta remember something, these are machines and they break,” he said.
