INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A tourist helicopter plummeted upside down into New York Citys Hudson River on Thursday killing all six people on board, including a Spanish
family with three children and the pilot, Mayor Eric Adams said.
Agustin Escobar, an executive at Germany-based technology company Siemens
was among those killed according to the New York Times, which cited unnamed law enforcement sources, Reuters reported.
New York City police
referred requests for confirmation that Escobar was aboard the helicopter to the United States Coast Guard
The Coast Guard said in a statement that it did not yet have the names of the victims
Siemens did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside normal business hours.
Video of the crash showed what appeared to be a
large object plunging into the river, followed seconds later by what appeared to be a helicopter blade
Afterwards, emergency and police boats were seen circling around a patch of river where the helicopter was submerged, with only what
appeared to be the aircrafts landing gear poking above the waters surface.
The Bell 206 chopper, operated by New York Helicopter Tours,
ET (1900 GMT) from a downtown helicopter pad and flew north over the Hudson River, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
It
turned south when it reached the George Washington Bridge and crashed minutes later, hitting the water upside down and getting submerged
near Lower Manhattan at around 3:15 p.m., just off Hoboken, New Jersey, Tisch added.
Divers helped remove the victims from the water
Four were pronounced dead at the scene, while two others were taken to area hospitals where they died.
The airspace around Manhattan is
crowded with helicopters offering tourists a birds-eye view of the sights, with at least two dozen operators listed on tour website Viator
Many of the operators also offer helicopter shuttle services to the area airports.
New York Helicopter Tours, which offers sightseeing
flights for as little as $114 per person on its website, did not respond immediately to a request for comment about the
crash.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the tour helicopter was in Special Flight Rules Area established in New York that means no
air traffic control services were being provided when it crashed.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety
Board will investigate, with the NTSB leading the investigation.
Duffy said the FAA was also launching a Safety Review Team on Thursday
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy and a team from the board will arrive in New York later on Thursday and plan to hold a press briefing on
Friday.
New York City has a history of accidents involving helicopters
In 2018, five passengers aboard a helicopter died when it crashed into the East River, while the pilot survived
The helicopter was on a charter flight that featured an open door to allow passengers to take photographs of the skyline.
A New York City
Police spokesperson said that police boats had assisted in Thursdays rescue efforts.
Helicopter safety has been a topic of discussion in the
United States Congress after 67 people were killed in a crash between an American Airlines regional jet and Army helicopter on Jan
29 near Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C
The FAA has since permanently restricted helicopter traffic near that airport and is reviewing helicopter operations near other major
airports.
The post Tourist helicopter crashes into New Yorks Hudson River, killing all six aboard first appeared on TINS News.
