Tourist family, pilot killed in ‘tragic’ NY helicopter crash

A Bell 206 helicopter

– ‘Heartbreaking’ –

The river is a busy shipping channel and the scene of a dramatic 2009 incident when a US Airways jet safely landed in the water. All 155 people on board escaped with their lives in an event dubbed “Miracle on the Hudson.”

The river is as deep as 200 feet (60 meters) at points, and an AFP correspondent saw what appeared to be floatation devices deployed on the aircraft’s skids.

The average temperature of the river is 46 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius) at this time of year, according to the US Geological Survey.

“Three adults and three children were on board a Bell 206 helicopter that had left from the downtown Skyport at just about 3 pm,” Adams said, adding that the tourists were a family from Spain.

Police and fire service (FDNY) divers raced to pull survivors from the wreckage, he said.

“NYPD divers pulled four people from the crash site, and FDNY Divers recovered an additional two. Immediate lifesaving measures were undertaken on the vessels at the scene, as well as the adjoining pier,” police commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

“Four victims were pronounced dead on scene, and two more were removed to local area hospitals, where, sadly, both succumbed to their injuries.”

They took off around 3 pm, flying south before heading up the Manhattan shoreline to the George Washington Bridge turning back towards the downtown Manhattan heliport, losing control and hitting the water near a Hoboken pier, she said.

The police commissioner said the aircraft was operated by New York Helicopter which did not respond to a request for comment but lists the Bell 206 among its fleet.

There have been around 30 helicopter crashes in New York since 1980, Brooklyn Borough President Mark Levine told reporters, calling for tighter restrictions on helicopter traffic in the city.

gw/md

© Agence France-Presse