Hudson River helicopter crash kills family of five and pilot

A tour helicopter crashed into the Hudson River Thursday afternoon, killing a family of five visiting from Spain and the pilot, Mayor Eric Adams said.

The chopper operated by New York Helicopter went down at 3:17 p.m., near Houston Street, according to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch. The passengers were two parents and their three children. Two of the passengers were still alive when they were pulled our of the water but died later at a nearby hospital, Tisch said.

The family included Agustin Escobar, global CEO of rail infrastructure at Siemens Mobility, said a spokesperson for Germany-based technology conglomerate Siemens. Officials had not publicly identified the pilot as of early Friday morning, and federal transportation authorities were investigating the crash.

Adams said the helicopter had taken off from the Downtown Skyport — formerly the Downtown Manhattan Heliport — just before 3 p.m. The incident prompted some lawmakers to call for an outright ban on non-essential helicopter flights over Manhattan.