Six people killed in helicopter crash in New York City’s Hudson River
The fire department said it received a report of a helicopter in the water at 3.17pm.
A helicopter broke apart in mid-air and crashed upside-down into the Hudson River between Manhattan and the New Jersey waterfront Thursday, killing all six people on board, according to officials and witnesses.
The New York Fire Department said it received a report of the crash at 3.17pm.
All six people on board were killed, an anonymous law enforcement official told The Associated Press.
Witness Bruce Wall said he saw the helicopter “falling apart” in mid-air, with the tail and propeller coming off. The propeller was still spinning without the aircraft as it fell, he said.
Lesly Camacho, who works at a restaurant along the river in Hoboken, New Jersey, said she saw the helicopter spinning uncontrollably before it slammed into the water.
“There was a bunch of smoke coming out. It was spinning pretty fast, and it landed in the water really hard,” she said.
Videos posted on social media showed parts of the helicopter splashing into the water, and the overturned aircraft was submerged. Multiple rescue boats were seen circling the aircraft.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) identified the helicopter as a Bell 206.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board planned to investigate.
The rescue craft was near the end of a long maintenance pier for a ventilation tower serving the Holland Tunnel.
Fire trucks and other emergency vehicles were on streets near the scene with their lights flashing.
The skies over Manhattan are routinely filled with both planes and helicopters, both private recreational aircraft and commercial and tourist flights.
Manhattan has several helipads that whisk business executives and others to destinations throughout the metropolitan area.
Over the years, there have been multiple crashes, including a collision between a plane and a tourist helicopter over the Hudson River in 2009 that killed nine people and the 2018 crash of a charter helicopter offering “open door” flights that went down into the East River, killing five people.
