New York, United States, (EFE).- Five Spaniards died on Thursday when a helicopter crashed into the waters of the Hudson River in New York, the mayor of New York, Eric Adams, confirmed.
They are two adults and three children, apparently from the same family, and the pilot. Spanish sources in New York also confirmed the information to EFE, without offering further details.
At a press conference, Mayor Eric Adams confirmed that there were no survivors in the accident and that it was “a family and a pilot from Spain,” specifying that there were two adults and three children among the passengers, in addition to the driver.
The helicopter belonged to a tour company called New York Helicopter Tours, which offers panoramic tours of New York from the sky.
According to the aircraft’s flight radar tracking, the helicopter (a Bell 206) had been in flight for 15 minutes and had traveled 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) at the time of the accident.
The aircraft left the Downtown Manhattan heliport; it headed south before flying north to the George Washington Bridge, and then headed south again following the New Jersey coast, when it lost control at Hoboken.
The incident occurred around 3:15 pm local time. While authorities have not confirmed the number of fatalities, some outlets report that all six people on board, including the pilot, may have died.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams called the crash a “tragic accident” in a brief statement, as emergency crews rushed to the scene near West Side Highway and Spring Street in lower Manhattan.
“Due to a helicopter accident in the Hudson River in the vicinity of West Side Highway and Spring Street, expect emergency vehicles and traffic delays in the surrounding areas,” the New York Police Department (NYPD) said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) identified the aircraft as a Bell 206, a commonly used light helicopter, though the agency said the exact number of passengers onboard remained unclear.
“The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate the incident. The NTSB will lead the investigation and provide updates,” the FAA added in a separate post.
Fox News released a video showing the helicopter plunging several hundred feet into the river after what appears to be a loss of its tail rotor. The footage shows the aircraft spiraling out of control before crashing into the water.
Thursday’s crash adds to a troubling history of helicopter conducting executive travel slammed into the root of a Manhattan skyscraper in restricted airspace, killing the pilot.
A similar tragedy took place in 2018 when five of six people aboard a helicopter drowned after it crashed into the East River, another body of water surrounding Manhattan. That aircraft had taken off from New Jersey. EFE
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