An air of grief loomed over Manhattan on Friday as city-dwellers struggled to course of the tragic Hudson River helicopter crash that killed six folks, together with Siemens tech government Agustín Escobar, who was visiting New York together with his household in celebration of his daughter’s ninth birthday.
The plane, a Bell 206 operated by New York Helicopter, out of the blue broke aside some 18 minutes after lifting off from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport on Thursday afternoon.
Throughout that point, the copter flew across the Statue of Liberty, cruised over to the George Washington Bridge, then circled and headed south. It flew alongside the New Jersey facet of the river earlier than falling from the sky and touchdown the wrong way up within the waters under, officers mentioned.
All six folks onboard, together with the pilot, who was not recognized, died within the crash. The victims additionally included Escobar, his spouse, Mercè Camprubí Montal, and their three kids, Agustín,11; Mercè, 8; and Víctor, 4.
Mayor Adams mentioned Escobar traveled to the tristate space from Spain earlier this week for work, and was later joined by his household within the Huge Apple to have a good time Mercè’s birthday. She would have turned 9 years outdated on Friday.
Mayor Eric Adams on the Hudson River at Pier 40 responding to vacationer helicopter crash that killed six on Thursday. (Kerry Burke / New York Each day Information)
“This is a traumatic moment for the city,” Adams mentioned throughout an look on Pix 11. “We come together during these moments, and I think that that is what’s great about the people of this city.”
However not simply New Yorkers have been left mourning. Sorrow sparked by the crash additionally permeated communities throughout Spain, notably in Barcelona, the place the household of 5 had a house.
“They are a well-known family,” Salvador Illa, the governor of the Catalonia area, advised the New York Occasions. “He was an executive at a large international company, and also she belonged to a well-known family. Two members of her family were presidents of the Barcelona Football Club.”
Each Escobar and his spouse labored for Siemens, a German-based expertise firm centered on “transforming industry, infrastructure and transportation,” in keeping with its web site. Escobar spent greater than 27 years there, most just lately as world CEO for rail infrastructure at Siemens Mobility, in keeping with his LinkedIn.
Montal, in the meantime, labored at Siemens for 16 years. Since 2018, she served in a separate department, Siemens Power, as a digitalization supervisor and later because the supervisor of world commercialization.
“In memoriam of Agustin Escobar and his beloved family,” Joe Kaeser, retired president and CEO of Siemens AG mentioned wrote X. “He was a good man. A loving husband, caring father and responsible manager. This tragedy tells us, not to waste time with things which don’t matter. Any day could be our last one.”
Particles from a helicopter crash is seen within the Hudson River in Jersey Metropolis, New Jersey on Thursday. (Gardiner Anderson / New York Each day Information)
Whereas the reason for the crash remained beneath investigation on Friday, video of the incident instructed a “catastrophic mechanical failure” occurred, leaving the pilot with no likelihood to save lots of the helicopter, mentioned Justin Inexperienced, an aviation lawyer who was a helicopter pilot within the Marine Corps.
“They were dead as soon as whatever happened happened,” he added. “There’s no indication they had any control over the craft. No pilot could have prevented that accident once they lost the lifts. It’s like a rock falling to the ground. It’s heartbreaking.”
