Investigators looking into reports flock of birds spotted near New York helicopter crash site

Investigators say they are looking into reports a large flock of birds was seen before a deadly helicopter crash in New York City.

The helicopter’s pilot and a family of five Spanish tourists, including three children, were killed in the crash in the Hudson river at around 3.17pm on Thursday.

Agustin Escobar, a Siemens executive, and his wife Merce Camprubi Montal had booked the helicopter tour to celebrate their eight-year-old child’s birthday.

Officials have named the pilot as Seankese Johnson. He was 36, according to the Jersey City Mayor’s office.

Giving an update on the investigation into the crash, National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy said no initial cause had been determined.

Asked about reports a large flock of birds was seen in the area shortly before the crash, she said: “We are aware of those reports, we discussed it this morning.

“It’s something we are looking into. What I would say to the public is that if something struck you as different or made you pause, or it crossed your mind that you might want to share with our investigators, there is no downside in sharing that information with us.”

Ms Homendy said divers are still recovering parts of the helicopter from the Hudson – and revealed the pilot had logged more than 780 hours of flight time.

Earlier, New York Police commissioner Jessica Tisch said divers had recovered all those on board from the helicopter, which was upside down in the water.

“Four victims were pronounced dead on scene and two more were removed to local area hospitals, where sadly both succumbed to their injuries,” she said.

Who were the victims?

The pilot was Seankese Johnson, known as Sean, who had shared photos and videos of his flights with a view of the Manhattan skyline in the background on social media. In the summer of 2023, he announced that he was flying a Blackhawk helicopter to fight fires for a Montana-based firm.

Passengers Mr Escobar, 49, Ms Camprubí Montal, 39, and their three children, Victor, four, Mercedes, eight, and Agustin, 10, all died in the crash.

Mr Escobar was in the New York area on business and his family flew in to meet him for a few days, Steven Fulop, mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey, wrote in a post on X.

Photos on the helicopter company’s website show the couple and their children smiling just before taking off.

The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called the news “devastating”.

“An unimaginable tragedy. I share the grief of the victims’ loved ones at this heartbreaking time,” he wrote on X.

Rotor blade ‘flew off’

The aircraft was on a tourist flight of Manhattan, run by the New York Helicopters company.

Witnesses described seeing the main rotor blade flying off moments before it dropped out of the sky.

Lesly Camacho, a worker at a restaurant along the river in Hoboken, said she saw the helicopter spinning uncontrollably before it slammed into the water.

“There was a bunch of smoke coming out. It was spinning pretty fast, and it landed in the water really hard,” she said.

Another witness said “the chopper blade flew off”.

“I don’t know what happened to the tail, but it just straight up dropped,” Avi Rakesh told Sky’s US partner, NBC News.

Video on social media showed parts of the Bell 206 helicopter tumbling through the air and landing in the river.

Mafalda Carvalho, from Brazil, told Sky News she took the “exact same helicopter tour” during a trip to New York just three weeks ago.

Seeing news of the crash, she said she felt “really emotional and reflective because the truth is we never know when it may be our turn… I saw the news that a whole family had lost their lives, it really made me stop and think”.

She added: “Helicopters in general aren’t the safest means of transport, right? There is always some level of risk. I enjoy, but it’s very dangerous. We never know when something might go wrong.”

The crash happened close to Pier 40 and the Holland tunnel, which links lower Manhattan’s Tribeca neighbourhood with Jersey City to its west.

Tracking service Flight Radar 24 published what it said was the helicopter’s route, with the aircraft appearing to be in the sky for 15 minutes before the crash.

Thursday’s incident comes less than three months after 67 people died when an army helicopter and American Airlines jet collided over the Potomac River in Washington DC.