The head of a New York City helicopter tour company said the aircraft that crashed into the Hudson River, killing six people—including a visiting Spanish family of five—was heading back to refuel when the fatal incident occurred.
Michael Roth, CEO of New York Helicopter Tour, explained that the pilot had radioed in to report a low fuel situation shortly before the helicopter went down on Thursday afternoon.
“He [the pilot] called in that he was landing and that he needed fuel, and it should have taken him about three minutes to arrive, but 20 minutes later, he didn’t arrive,” Roth told the Telegraph.
The passengers aboard the helicopter were all tourists from Spain who had come to New York City for a vacation.
Agustin Escobar, along with his wife Merce Camprubi Montal and their three children, died in the crash. The pilot, who has not yet been publicly identified, was also killed.
Escobar held the position of global CEO for rail infrastructure at Siemens Mobility. His wife worked in a high-level role at Siemens Energy, managing worldwide commercialization efforts.
According to emergency responders, four of the victims were declared dead at the scene, while the remaining two succumbed to their injuries at the hospital.
Photos on the company’s website, now painfully poignant, show Escobar, Montal, and their children smiling in front of the Bell 206L-4 LongRanger IV helicopter and buckled in for their flight.
Roth said he first found out about the crash through one of his employees at the heliport, who had heard rumors of an accident but didn’t realize it involved their own aircraft.
“Then one of my pilots flew over the Hudson and saw the helicopter upside down,” he told the Telegraph.
In an earlier interview with The NY Post, Roth shared his emotional reaction to the tragedy that claimed the lives of six people, including three children.
“It’s devastation,” he said. “I’m a father and a grandfather and to have children on there, I’m devastated. I’m absolutely devastated.”
Roth declined to offer a definitive explanation for what brought the chopper down, saying he could only comment on what he saw from video footage of the crash.
“The only thing I know by watching a video of the helicopter falling down, that the main rotor blades weren’t on the helicopter,” Roth said. “And I haven’t seen anything like that in my 30 years being in business, in the helicopter business. The only thing I could guess — I got no clue — is that it either had a bird strike or the main rotor blades failed. I have no clue. I don’t know.”
Authorities said the Bell 206 broke apart midair as it traveled above the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey around 3:15 p.m.
A video of the crash shows the helicopter spiraling and slamming into the river upside down, sending a large spray of water into the air near Pier 40, located at West Houston Street and West Street.
Soon after, the rotor blades were seen detaching and spinning wildly into the river on their own.
Eyewitnesses near the scene reported hearing a loud “boom sound” at the time of the crash.
Recovery teams have started to remove debris from the river while a formal investigation into what led to the tragic accident is underway. Late Thursday, crews recovered the wrecked remains of the helicopter from the frigid Hudson River.
{Matzav.com}