Five dead after helicopter crashes in New York

A helicopter carrying six people crashed in New York City’s East River on Sunday, killing all the passengers, while the pilot survived, police said.

Moments before it crashed into the frigid waters, the pilot radioed for help, the New York Daily News and other media reported.

“Mayday, mayday, mayday,” the pilot said, according to news accounts. “Engine failure. We’ve got an engine failure over the East River.”

Two of the five passengers died at the scene and three were taken to two area hospitals, where they died, New York City Police and fire department officials said yesterday.

The pilot was able to free himself and was rescued, treated and released in good condition from a hospital, police said.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the Eurocopter AS350 went down near the northern end of Roosevelt Island at about 7pm and it was investigating.

“It’s a great tragedy,” said New York Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro at a press conference on Sunday. “It took a while for the divers to get these people out.”

Mr Nigro said when the divers reached the helicopter it was inverted in 15 metres of 4.5°C water with strong currents of about 6.5 kilometres an hour.

The passengers were tightly harnessed and the harnesses had to be cut and removed to free the passengers in the helicopter, he said.

New York City Police Commissioner James O’Neill said the aircraft was registered to Liberty Helicopters, a sightseeing and charter service in New York, and was on a private charter “photo shoot”.

“It kind of hit sideways and just flipped over,” Brianna Jesme, 22, an Upper East Side resident who saw the crash, told Reuters TV.

Video of the incident filmed by an onlooker and posted on Twitter showed a red helicopter descending towards the water at dusk, then landing with a large splash before tipping on to its right side, its tail lights still flashing.

The NYC Ferry said on Sunday on Twitter that services on the Astoria and East River routes had been suspended until further notice because of the helicopter crash.