What we know about the fatal helicopter crash

The New York Police Department (NYPD) has said a helicopter crashed into the Hudson River and killed all six people onboard including a family of five from Spain.

It is very much an active investigation, but here is what we know so far about the fatal crash:

New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch has given some details about the fatal helicopter ride.

She said the helicopter was operated by New York Helicopters and took off from the Downtown Skyport on the lower side of Manhattan at 14:59 local time (19:59 BST).

According to the popular real-time flight-tracking website Flightradar24, the helicopter was in the air for about 15 minutes.

It started its route heading towards the Statue of Liberty and pivoted north towards the George Washington Bridge.

Then, the helicopter circled back down the Hudson along the New Jersey side and plunged into the River Hudson near a pier in Hoboken, New Jersey, at 15:15 local time (20:15 BST).

The helicopter was upside-down when it hit the water, Tisch added.

Police boats assisted in the rescue efforts and Bruce Wall, who was nearby when the crash happened, described what he saw.

“It started falling apart in mid-air and then the tail came off and then just flipped over in mid-air and started falling to the ground,” he said.

In total there were six people onboard the helicopter when it went down – including one American pilot.

According to reports, the Spanish family of two adults and three children were taking the helicopter ride to see sights of New York.

While authorities have yet to release their identities, the family has widely been named as Agustín Escobar and his wife Mercè Camprubí Montal, who were both executives at Siemens, and their children, aged four, five and 11.

Dive teams worked to recover the bodies and despite CPR efforts, all six people were pronounced dead.

Four victims were pronounced dead on scene, the other two victims were pronounced dead at an area hospital, officials have said.

The cause of the crash is currently under investigation and early details are vague.

But, NYPD Commissioner Tisch has said the “aircraft lost control” and hit the water “just a few feet off the coast of a pier”.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has said the helicopter was a Bell 206.

Both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate – with the NTSB leading the investigation.

Thursday’s incident was the deadliest helicopter crash in New York City since at least 2018, according to the New York Times.

In that incident, all five passengers drowned and only the pilot survived when a sightseeing helicopter that was flying with its doors off fell into the East River and flipped over.