Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has supplied his condolences to mates and relations of a Spanish household who died in New York on Thursday after their sightseeing helicopter crashed within the Hudson River, killing all onboard together with the pilot.
It emerged on Friday that the victims have been Agustín Escobar, his spouse, Mercè Camprubí, and their three youngsters, who have been 11, 5 and 4. The id of the pilot has not but been made public.
The sightseeing helicopter broke aside in midair and crashed the other way up into the Hudson between Manhattan and the New Jersey waterfront shortly after 3pm native time (2000 BST), resulting in an enormous response from emergency crews.
Movies posted on social media confirmed the plane largely submerged, the other way up within the water, and rescue automobiles crowding on to the streets on shore as emergency employees raced to avoid wasting these onboard.
“We have had devastating news about the helicopter accident in the River Hudson,” Sánchez posted in a message on X on Friday. “Five Spaniards from the same family, three of them children, lost their lives along with the pilot. It’s an unimaginable tragedy. I share the pain of the victims’ loved ones in this heartbreaking moment.”
Spain’s transport minister, Óscar Puente, additionally paid tribute, saying: “Reading with horror that the victims of the awful helicopter accident in the US were Agustín Escobar and his family. I met him over the past year in his capacity at Siemens Spain. He was a charming, hard-working and talented person.”
The German industrial conglomerate Siemens later confirmed that Escobar labored for the corporate as head of rail infrastructure at its mobility division.
“We are deeply saddened by the tragic helicopter crash in which Agustín Escobar and his family lost their lives,” Siemens stated in a press release.
An individual briefed on the investigation, talking on situation of anonymity, informed the Related Press (AP) that Camprubí was a world supervisor at an vitality expertise firm.
The New York mayor, Eric Adams, confirmed six folks had been pronounced useless, together with three youngsters and three adults.
Talking at a information convention on Thursday night, Adams stated his ideas have been with the crash victims and their households. An investigation into the reason for the accident was persevering with, he stated.
Jessica Tisch, the New York Metropolis police commissioner, stated many of the passengers have been already useless once they have been faraway from the water, however two passengers have been taken to a close-by hospital, the place they died quickly after.
Tisch stated the Bell 206 helicopter, operated by New York Helicopter Excursions, took off from a downtown helicopter pad at about 3pm and flew north over the Hudson. It turned south when it reached the George Washington Bridge and crashed minutes later, hitting the water the other way up and sinking close to Decrease Manhattan about 3.15pm, simply off Hoboken, New Jersey.
Witness Bruce Wall informed the AP he noticed the helicopter “falling apart” in midair, with the tail and propeller coming off. The propeller was nonetheless spinning with out the plane because it fell, he stated.
Lesly Camacho, a hostess at a restaurant alongside the river in Hoboken, stated she had seen the helicopter spinning uncontrollably earlier than it slammed into the water.
