(NEW YORK CITY) — A tourist helicopter carrying family members from Spain plunged into the Hudson River in New York City, killing six, including three children.
The New York Helicopters chartered chopper, which was carrying a pilot, two adults and three children, fell into the Hudson River by Lower Manhattan in New York City on Thursday afternoon, officials said during a press briefing.
Agustin Escobar, an executive from European automation company Siemens, his wife, Merce Camprubi Montal, and their children — aged 4, 5 and 11 years old — were killed in the crash along with the pilot, aged 36, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The crash occurred at 3:17 p.m. off the coast of River Drive in Hoboken, New Jersey, just over 15 minutes after it departed from the Wall St. Heliport. The helicopter reached the George Washington Bridge before turning south and crashing, officials said during the briefing.
The five-person family was from Barcelona, Spain, two Spanish officials told ABC News on Thursday.
“Our hearts go out to the family and those on board,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said during the briefing.
Video from the crash showed the chopper plunging into the water without a tail rotor or a main rotor blade. Officials said it hit the water inverted.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident.
Jersey City Medical Center, where the passengers were transported after the crash, tried as hard as they could, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop told ABC News.
President Donald Trump took to his social media platform on Thursday evening, calling the crash “terrible” and saying that the footage of the accident is “horrendous.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said in a post to X that the news was “devastating.” He added, “Five Spaniards from the same family, three of them children, and the pilot have lost their lives. An unimaginable tragedy.”
Dani Horbiak told ABC News she watched the helicopter “fall out of the sky” from her apartment window.
“I heard five or six loud noises that sounded almost like gunshots in the sky and saw pieces fall off, then watched it fall into the river,” she said.
“I was walking by and the helicopter went down at a 45-degree angle,” Eric Campoverde told ABC News. “Big splash — it was very scary.”
“It sounded like a sonic boom,” a witness told New York ABC station WABC. He said he saw the “helicopter splitting in two with the rotor flying off.”
Another witness told WABC, “One propeller broke into pieces.”
The chopper — identified by the Federal Aviation Administration as a Bell 206 helicopter — was on its sixth flight of the day. It was found upside-down in the 50-degree water when rescuers arrived at the scene, which was closer to the New Jersey side of the Hudson River, according to sources.
The Jersey City Police Department is taking the lead on the investigation since the helicopter crashed on the Jersey City side of the river, Fulop told WABC on Thursday.
Fulop said the city has had concerns about the air traffic over the Hudson before and is hoping this brings more attention to their safety concerns.
ABC News’ Leah Sarnoff and Erin Murtha contributed to this report.
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