Tourist Helicopter Crashes Into River In New York; Kills All Six Aboard (Image on X @VeereshKum9526)
New York, United States: In yet another tragic helicopter crash in the US, a tourist helicopter fell apart midair, directly splashing into the Hudson River near the shoreline of Jersey City, New Jersey at around 3 pm ET on Thursday. Footages from the location shows the helicopter plunging into the river after tumbling through the air into the water. The chopper was carrying six people, including pilot and a family of five Spanish tourists, including three children.
Unfortunately, all those on board were killed in the crash. The dead bodies of the victims have been recovered from the water, according to a statement by city Mayor Eric Adams.
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As per the eyewitnesses, the helicopter broke apart in midair with the tail and propeller coming off, and the propeller was still spinning without the helicopter as it fell.
🚨 #BREAKING Live video of the Helicopter crash in New York City, plunging directly into the Hudson river around 3pm. NYPD are on scene near West Side Highway & Spring Street. The Helicopter carrying four people. #HudsonRiver #NewYork #EEUU #chash pic.twitter.com/r7QxztBFp8
— Maribel Figueroa (@Maribel18082556) April 10, 2025
CEO of Siemens, Agustin Escobar, His Wife And Three Children Killed In Helicopter Crash
During the tragic incident, Agustin Escobar, CEO of Siemens in Spain, his wife and the couple’s three children were killed along with the pilot of the chopper. Escobar was the Head of Sales & Project Management of Power Automation Systems in Spain in 1998 and gradually rose to the rank of CEO in the company. The family had visited New York from Barcelona for a vacation. The children died in the crash were aged 4, 5, and 11.
The Reason For The Crash
Within minutes of falling into the river, the rescue team’s boat circled the river. The crew lifted the aircraft out of the water at around 8 pm using a floating crane. The chopper was operated by New York Helicopters, and the company is yet to make clarification on why the crash occurred.
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The video reportedly suggested mechanical failure. According to a report by the New York Times, a person from the company, Michael Roth, said that the only thing he knew by watching the video of the crash was that the rotor blades were not on the helicopter. He said that he had not seen such a thing during his 30 years in the helicopter business. However, Roth added that “those are machines, and they break.”
The US Federal Aviation Administration identified the helicopter as a Bell 206, a model widely used in commercial and government aviation. The National Transportation Safety Board has said that it would investigate the incident in detail.
In the recent years, the US has seen several aircraft crashes including in the latest midair collision of a US military helicopter with a commercial passenger jet, claiming 67 lives – all on the board. The tragedy occurred on January 29, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia, when the passenger jet attempting to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the tragedy happened due to a communication issues.
