Beaming at the camera and sitting proudly in the cockpit of a helicopter on the eve of her ninth birthday, a little girl excitedly waited to take off and embark on a tour over the iconic New York City skyline with her parents and young siblings on Thursday.
But just 16 minutes later, tragedy struck when the eight-year-old, who had travelled to the Big Apple from Spain with her family, was killed in a horror crash after the chopper plummeted into the Hudson River at 3.15pm yesterday.
Her brother, 10, and sister, four, also died in the horror crash, as well as her father Agustin Escobar, a Siemens executive, and mother Merce Camprubi Montal.
The family were on vacation in New York to celebrate her ninth birthday, which would have been today.
The family-of-five had just arrived from Barcelona and embarked on their first day touring the Big Apple, taking a scenic trip in the helicopter as a treat for the young girl and her mother Merce, who officials said was also celebrating her birthday.
Commenting on the tragedy, Jersey City mayor Steven Fulop said: ‘The family flew out to extend the trip a couple days in NYC. They were celebrating the mom’s 40th birthday with the tourist helicopter flight yesterday.’
It was unclear whether Fulop was referring to the holiday overall being a birthday trip for Merce or if the little girl’s mother was also celebrating her birthday on the fateful day.
The tragic twist emerged as terrifying new footage appears to show the cause of the tragedy.
Harrowing footage captured the moment the helicopter rotor blade flew off and splashed into the Hudson River after the deadly crash
A rotor blade can be seen plummeting into the water, with aviation experts saying that this likely occurred because the main rotor blades separated from the aircraft and sliced the tail.
‘From the footage, it appears that the main rotor struck the body of the helicopter, cutting off the tail of the helicopter, which created an unrecoverable event,’ former military aviator and attorney Jim Brauchle of Motley Rice LLC told DailyMail.com.
‘The two main causes of this phenomenon are mechanical failure or excessive maneuvering. Still, a full investigation is needed to understand why this tragedy occurred.
‘Having previously represented the families of tourists killed during a helicopter tour over the Hudson River, my heart goes out to the families at this catastrophic time.’
Another expert told Fox 5 that in the case that the separating rotor blades sliced off the aircraft’s tail boom, the flight would have been unrecoverable.
‘If that articulating head actually separated from the aircraft, the aircraft was doomed. There’s no possibility of that aircraft ever having made a normal type of landing. It was going to crash,’ said Tristani.
‘In this particular case though, when you throw a blade, one blade or the entire head, no, you’re just a falling brick.’
Michael Roth, 71, who owns New York Helicopter which provided the tour and the chopper, said the aircraft was running out of fuel before it crashed.
‘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 he was devastated by the crash and agreed with other experts that the video appears to show the main rotor blades had broken off.
‘The only thing I know by watching a video of the helicopter falling down, that the main rotor blades weren’t on the helicopter,’ he told the New York Post.
‘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.’
A ‘catastrophic mechanical failure’ left the pilot with no chance to save the helicopter, said Justin Green, an aviation lawyer who was a helicopter pilot in the Marine Corps.
It is possible the helicopter’s main rotors struck the tail boom, breaking it apart and causing the cabin to free fall, Green said.
‘They were dead as soon as whatever happened happened,’ Green said. ‘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.’
It comes as it was revealed that the helicopter’s unidentified pilot, 36, radioed base to warn that they were running out of fuel just before the tragedy struck. He was also killed in the crash.
Agustín Escobar, a Siemens executive from Spain, his wife Merce Camprubi Montal and their three children, aged four, eight and 10, took photos just before the crash
Aviation experts explained that the crash likely occurred because the helicopter’s (pictured before crashing) main rotor blades separated from the aircraft and sliced the tail
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’
Heartbreaking photos showed the Escobar parents and their kids, aged four, eight and 10, posing on the helipad and inside the aircraft before the crash.
The aircraft was operated by New York Helicopter, a local tour company. The chopper appeared to be a N216MH – a Bell 206L-4, according to Flight Radar.
The helicopter flew for approximately 16 minutes before going down into the water. It took off from the Wall Street Heliport and did a circle near the Statue of Liberty before flying up the Hudson River to the George Washington Bridge at about 1000 feet.
Dramatic video showed the helicopter sinking into the water as emergency crews rushed to the scene.
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.’
‘Oh my god. Oh my gosh. Oh my goodness. Oh my gosh,’ said a terrified witness who watched the helicopter fall into the river.
Bruce Wall, a witness near the shoreline of Jersey City, New Jersey, said he saw the helicopter ‘falling apart’ in midair, with the tail and main rotor coming off. The main rotor was still spinning without the helicopter as it fell.
Dani Horbiak was at her Jersey City home when she heard what sounded like ‘several gunshots in a row, almost, in the air.’ She looked out her window and saw the chopper ‘splash in several pieces into the river.’
The family had just arrived from Barcelona and embarked on their first day touring the Big Apple
Emergency responders were seen late Thursday night pulling the remnants of the destroyed helicopter from the murky water of the Hudson River
Devastating photos show debris from the helicopter tour floating in the Hudson River including a pink shoe
Mayor Eric Adams gives am update on Hudson helicopter crash
On air traffic control radio, an NYPD helicopter pilot can be heard saying, ‘Be advised, you do have an aircraft down. Holland Tunnel. Please keep your eyes open for anybody in the water.’
About five minutes after that, someone asks, ‘Hey Finest,’ a reference to the NYPD’s call sign, ‘what’s going on over there by the Holland Tunnel?’ – ‘The ship went down,’ someone else responds.
Emergency responders were seen late Thursday night pulling the remnants of the destroyed helicopter from the murky water of the Hudson River. Photos showed a crane pulling mangled clumps of metal out of the river.
Jersey City Mayor Steven 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.
‘Recovery operations have been secured for the night. Major parts of the aircraft have not been recovered so dive operations by the NYPD and NJSP will resume tomorrow morning,’ he said.
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 water was about 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
Other footage showed the chopper ‘flying erratically’ just before it fell into the water, while other clips showed pieces of the aircraft were seen flying off.
Emergency responders enter the water after the helicopter crash. The National Transportation Safety Board has announced it launched a ‘go team’ to investigate
