The president of the Spanish division of tech giants Siemens, together with his wife and three children, have tragically been killed after a tourist helicopter crashed into the Hudson River in New York City.

Agustin Escobar and his family had only arrived in the US city earlier that day and had prioritised the ride as their first adventure of the trip.

Mr Escobar’s wife, Mercè Camprubí Montal, is also a director at Siemens and the granddaughter and great-granddaughter of presidents of FC Barcelona, according to Spanish media.

Heartbreaking images have emerged showing the children aged eleven, five and four looking excited with their parents, as they posed on the helipad shortly take-off.

Dramatic video footage showed the craft plummeting out of control into the water at around 3.15pm on Thursday, 10 April, near the New Jersey side of the river, just off Lower Manhattan. 

Further footage picked up a rotor blade falling into the Hudson which has led aviation experts to quickly believe the crash occurred because the main blades separated from the aircraft, making a safe landing impossible.

Four people were pronounced dead at the scene, and two others were taken to the hospital, where they ‘succumbed to their injuries, a police department representative said.

The pilot, who also died in the crash, has not yet been identified, but it is being reported that he informed control that the chopper was running out of fuel shortly before the tragedy.

The disaster is one of the worst involving a helicopter in the city in the past two decades.

Fell upside down “like a brick”

 New York Police Commissioner, Jessica Tisch, gave some details about the fatal crash. She said the helicopter was operated by New York Helicopters and it took off from the Downtown Wall Street Sky-port, on the lower side of Manhattan, at 14:59 local time and was in the air for around 16 minutes.

It began its route heading towards the Statue of Liberty before pivoting north towards the George Washington Bridge, flying at about 1000 feet. At the time of the tragedy it was cloudy with winds around 10 to 15 mph, and  gusts up to 25 mph, which is nothing out of the ordinary.

Seemingly, shortly after turning along the New Jersey shoreline, the helicopter was seen to fall out of the sky upside down, before splashing into the Hudson River, near a pier in Hoboken, New Jersey, at 15:15 local time.

Unable to save the victims

Police rescue boats raced to the site immediately, with New York Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker stating: “Swimmers were in the water shortly after the call.”

Once on the scene, rescuers searched the water for victims or survivors and were able to initiate “immediate life-saving measures” but sadly the CPR efforts proved unsuccessful and all six people on board the craft were pronounced dead.

Bruce Wall, who was nearby when the crash happened, described seeing the “chopper falling apart in mid-air with the tail coming off” before flipping over in mid-air and “plummeting like a brick”.

All onboard had “no chance”

Justin Green, an aviation lawyer who was in the Marine Corps said that it was possible the helicopter’s main rotors struck against the tail boom, breaking it apart and causing the cabin to free-fall.

“They were dead as soon as whatever happened, happened,” he said, before adding: “There’s no indication they had any control over the craft, but no pilot could have prevented that accident once they lost the lifts; it would be like a rock falling to the ground – it’s heartbreaking.”

Investigation begins

The Bell 206, a two-bladed helicopter, is commonly used by sightseeing companies, television new stations and police departments.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the investigation into the crash will be led by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Helicopter company devastated

Following the tragic incident, Michael Roth, CEO of New York Helicopters, confirmed that the aircraft ran out of fuel just minutes into their journey.

He recounted what could be one of the last radio calls made by the pilot moments before the crash: “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 hadn’t arrived.”

Mr Roth said that every employee in our company is devastated, remarking that “the death of the child of any human being, is a monumental disaster.”

Accident waiting to happen

Helicopter tours around New York City repeatedly draw criticism from local residents and politicians, with frequent noise complaints as tourists take in the Big Apple from the air.

US Congressman Jerry Nadler, who represents Manhattan’s west and east sides, called the crash “heartbreaking” but added that the dangers posed by the tours meant that the incident was: “not only devastating, it was also foreseeable,” and called for the Federal Aviation Authority to act “to prevent further loss of life.”