Wreckage of doomed NYC sightseeing helicopter is pulled from Hudson River after fatal crash: Live updates

Emergency responders were seen late Thursday night removing parts of the destroyed helicopter from the Hudson River.

Photos showed a crane lifting wreckage of the mangled chopper from the murky water after night had fallen.

Images appeared to show the remains of the battered cockpit with landing skids in full view.

The distorted remnants hung from the crane in front of the bright lights of Jersey City.

Aviation experts have started to speculat on what may have caused the helicopter to tumble into the Hudson River on Thursday.

FOX 5 NY's meteorologist and certified pilot Nick Gregory, for example, said it appears the rotor blades separated from the aircraft, which meant that 'there's no way to maintain any lift' rendering the pilot powerless.

Once the blades detached 'it took out the tail, the tail rotor' leaving the pilot with no control over the aircraft because in this case 'there's no power at all, no way to be able to control the situation.'

The family onboard a helicopter that plummeted into the Hudson River had only arrived in New York City on the same day they were killed.

Agustín Escobar, the president of the Spanish branch of the technology company Siemens, and his family had only arrived in the city earlier in the day on Thursday before the fatal crash that very afternoon.

Escobar and his wife, Merce Camprubi Montal, and their children - aged four, five, and 11 years old - were all killed in the tragic crash alongside the pilot, aged 36.

Rep. Jerry Nadler, who represents the west and east sides of Manhattan, claimed on X that the helicopter crash 'was not only devastating - it was foreseseeable.

'For years, I have raised concerns about the dangers posed by non-essential helicopter flights over our city's densely populated neighborhoods and congested airspace,' he said.

'One of the busiest skies in the nation remains largely unregulated, governed by outdated visual flight rules and minimal oversight. This is unacceptable,' he continued.

'The [Federal Aviation Administration] must act immediately to prevent further loss of life.'

Recovery operations to salvage the rest of the wreckage from the doomed helicopter will continue on Friday, the Jersey City mayor announced.

Mayor Steven Fulop explained in a post on X that major parts of the aircraft have not yet been recovered, so dive teams will scour the Hudson River for the parts on Friday.

He also said the National Transportation Safety Board is responding to the scene 'and should have a complete response by tomorrow.'

An executive from Siemens, where Agustin Escobar served as a president, is also flying in to Jersey City, Fulop added.

'We will liaison with him and help the families with the necessary steps to bring their loved ones home,' he said

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called news of the helicopter crash, which killed a Spanish family of five, 'devastating.'

He also said their losses were an 'unimaginable tragedy.'

'I share in the grief of the victims' loved ones at this heartbreaking time,' Sanchez wrote.

In a scathing post on X, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop claimed that the federal government has allowed the airspace in the area to become too overcrowded.

'This has been an issue we have pushed at the federal level for a decade with no response,' he claimed.

'This is not the first crash that has happened, and the reality is that the airspace here is too crowded above a densely populated area to allow this.'

'These tourist helicopters should not be allowed and hopefully this terrible tragedy brings some change so that it will never happen again to any other family,' he declared.

Michael Roth, 71, the owner of the doomed helicopter, told The Telegraph Thursday evening that it was returning for fuel when it crashed into the Hudson.

'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,' he said.

Roth added that 'every employee in our company is devastated' and said his 'wife has not stopped crying.

'I got a call from my manager and my downtown heliport and she said she heard there was a crash, and then my phone blew up from everybody,' he recounted

Sen. Cory Booker, who represents New Jersey - where the helicopter crashed on Thursday, has spoken out about the devastating crash.

'Heartbroken for the victims of the helicopter crash in the Hudson River,' he posted on X.

'My office is closely monitoring this situation and has been in touch with local and federal authorities.'

He added that he is 'grateful for the swift action by emergency responders.'

The National Transportation Safety Board has announced it launched a 'go team.'

The team is expected to arrive sometime Thursday night to investigate the crash of the Bell 206 L-4 helicopter, the agency wrote on social media.

Augustin Escobar was pictured embracing his wife and their two daughters in front of the New York Helicopter Tours chopper.

It then took off from lower Manhattan, then traveled north along the Hudson River.

The helicopter crashed as it was on its way back to south.

Agustín Escobar, the president of the Spanish branch of the technology company Siemens, and his wife and three children were killed in the crash, the New York Times reported.

Law enforcement officials confirmed to the outlet that the executive and his family were onboard the tour helicopter.

Devastating photos show debris from the helicopter tour floating in the Hudson River near Jersey City, New Jersey.

In the photos, a girl's shoe is clearly visible, as is a canteen.

Machine parts and diagrams were also seen floating in the murky water.

Authorities announced Thursday evening that the victims in the crash included Siemens Spain President Agustín Escobar, his wife and their three kids.

It appears from the photos some of thier belongings landed in the Hudson River following the crash, with a girls' bright pink slipper and accessory standing out in the dark water.

Donald Trump sent his condolences to the families of the victims in Thursday's crash.

'Terrible helicopter crash in the Hudson River. Looks like six people, the pilot, two adults, and three children, are no longer with us,' he said on Truth Social.

'The footage of the accident is horrendous. God bless the families and friends of the victims. Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, and his talented staff are on it. Announcements as to exactly what took place, and how, will be made shortly!'

As of 5:15 p.m., rescue efforts appeared to have concluded, and officials are focused on recovering parts of the aircraft, reported Fox 5.

Four people were pronounced dead at the scene, and two others were taken to the hospital, where they 'succumbed to their injuries,' NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

At the time of the crash, it was cloudy with winds around 10 to 15 mph with gusts up to 25 mph, CNN reported.

Surface visibility was considered good — 10 miles — but it was cloudy as a system is moving into the region, bringing light rain to the region this afternoon and evening.

The aircraft carrying a family of five and a pilot was operated by New York Helicopter, a local tour company.

New York Helicopter Tours CEO Michael Roth told the New York Post, 'It’s devastation.'

'I’m a father and a grandfather and to have children on there, I’m devastated. I’m absolutely devastated.'

'The only thing I know by watching a video of the helicopter falling down, that the main rotor blades weren’t on the helicopter. 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.

'This is horrific, but you gotta remember something, these are machines and they break.'

The helicopter took off from the southern edge of Manhattan, before circling up the west side of the island down the Hudson River, Flight Radar tracking shows.

It U-turned close to the northern edge of Manhattan, and almost made it back down the Hudson until it crashed close to Hoboken in New Jersey.

One witness said he saw the plane 'falling apart' as it tumbled down towards the water in several pieces, around 500 meters from the nearest pier.

'The propeller was still in the sky, and (the helicopter) just slammed into the water,' he told NBC New York.

'The plane was turned around, sitting there in the water, almost like it was floating,' he added.

Brian Marks was at Penny Park in Manhattan with his children when the helicopter went down. He described hearing a 'loud thump' when it hit the water.

‘One of my children said, “what's that sound?” I told him I didn't know,' Marks told DailyMail.com.

Marks said he often kayaks in the river and has had Red Cross water safety training.

'In this river, at this time of day and with this temperature hypothermia will kill you quickly,' he said.

Lesly Camacho, a hostess 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 in a phone interview.

Witness Bruce Wall said he saw the helicopter 'falling apart' in midair, with the tail and propeller coming off.

The propeller was still spinning without the aircraft as it fell, he said.

A harrowing video transcript from inside a doors-off sightseeing helicopter which crashed in New York City's East River in March 2018 has re-emerged in the wake of Thursday's deadly crash.

The old clip showed doomed passengers struggling to free themselves from harnesses as the aircraft filled with water, officials said.

'How do I cut this?' one passenger can be heard asking, just 13 seconds before the helicopter became completely submerged in the river between Manhattan and Brooklyn.

The National Transportation Safety Board made a transcript of the video public in September 2019, but the footage itself was not provided.

It was taken from a GoPro camera mounted on the cabin ceiling. Investigators had been looking at whether the harnesses hindered passengers' escape from the helicopter, which flipped over and quickly sank.

The transcript painted a picture of tragedy that unfolded in mere seconds, with one passenger reaching for a spot on his chest where a hook knife had been seen earlier, another pulling in vain at the shoulder straps of his harness and a third heard panting.

The rescue craft were near the end of a long maintenance pier for a ventilation tower serving the Holland Tunnel on the New Jersey side of the river.

Rescue crews had to deal with 45-degree water temperatures.

Fire trucks and other emergency vehicles were on nearby streets with their lights flashing.

The Federal Aviation Administration identified the helicopter as a Bell 206. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are planning to investigate.

'It sounded like a sonic boom on my right,' a witness told ABC affiliate WABC.

'I looked up and literally just see a helicopter splitting in two with the rotor flying off into the sky.

'It was going so fast and it just went straight into the water. I've never seen anything like that in my life.'

The tragedy marks the latest in a series of aircraft disasters in the area in recent years, including a 2018 crash of a charter helicopter offering 'open door' flights that went down into the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn, killing five people.

In 2009, another tourist helicopter also collided with a plane over the Hudson River, killing nine people.

Six people have been confirmed dead in the crash, including three children, according to the Associated Press.

At least three people have died after a helicopter carrying two adults and three children plunged into the Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey.

The horrific incident unfolded just before 3.30pm on Thursday, closer to the Garden State side of the river, according to police.