A chilling radio call made by the pilot of the tour helicopter just moments before it crashed into New York City’s Hudson River has been revealed.
The tragedy, which is one of the deadliest helicopter crashes in New York City in nearly 20 years, happened at around 3:15pm on Thursday. April 10, closer to the New Jersey side of the Hudson River just off the tip of Lower Manhattan. The helicopter took off from the Wall Street Heliport and did a circle near the Statue of Liberty before flying up the Hudson River, but just 16 minutes into the flight tragedy struck.
Dramatic footage has beeen shared on social media showing the helicopter plummeting from the sky before crash-landing in the water. AgustÃn Escobar, the president of the Spanish branch of the technology company Siemens, and his wife and three children died in the crash, the New York Times reported.
The names of Escobar’s wife and children have not been publicly released. The other person killed as a result of the crash was the pilot, whose name has also not yet been disclosed by authorities.
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Following the tragedy, CEO of New York Helicopters, Michael Roth, has confirmed that the aircraft was out of fuel just minutes into their trip and has recalled the what could be one of the last radio calls made by the pilot just moments before the crash. “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.
Roth said that he started to get messages before one of his other pilots flew over the Hudson “and saw the helicopter upside down.” Roth addd: “We’re all devastated. Every employee in our company is devastated. My wife has not stopped crying. The death of the child of any human being, is a monumental disaster,” reports MailOnline.
It is understood the Escobar family had only arrived in New York City earlier on Thursday and made the sightseeing trip one of their first priorities. Chilling images have been circulated showing the tech boss, his wife and their three children posing outside and seated inside the helicopter moments before their deaths.
Witnesses said they saw the chopper “split in half” before it went down near Pier 40, with one man reporting the stricken aircraft making what sounded like a “sonic boom.” It has not yet been established what caused the Bell 206 aircraft to plummet from the skies during the Escobars’ doomed tour.
Following the disaster, President Donald Trump offered condolences to the victims’ families and friends. In his message on Truth Social, Mr Trump described the horror as a “terrible helicopter crash” and he said that the transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, and his staff were investigating it. The world leader, 78, also stressed “announcements as to exactly what took place, and how, will be made shortly.”
The exact cause of the crash is yet to be determined.
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