LAST UPDATE | 10 Apr

SIX PEOPLE HAVE died after a helicopter crashed into the Hudson River in New York, Mayor Eric Adams has confirmed. 

The New York Police Department (NYPD) said that 911 calls about the crash began coming in shortly after 3.17pm New York time.  

The mayor said three adults, including the pilot, and three children were aboard the Bell 206 helicopter.

He said it’s understood that the family of five were visiting the US from Spain. 

“All six victims have been removed from the water and sadly, all six victims have been pronounced deceased,” Adams said. 

Our hearts go out to the family of those who were on board.

“We’re praying for the families and our gratitude to the rescuers,” he said.

New York Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker said that rescue boats were launched immediately after an emergency call was received, with swimmers in the water “shortly after the call”. 

Officials said that four people were pronounced dead at the scene, while the other two victims were pronounced dead in hospital. 

LATEST: New York City Mayor Eric Adams provides a timeline of the helicopter crash that killed six people on Thursday. https://t.co/T3YRXiUsx5 pic.twitter.com/uqwKH5tMXL

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New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that based on flight tracking software, police understand that the helicopter, flying for the tour company New York Helicopters, took off from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport at 2.59pm New York time.

“The aircraft flew south before turning to fly north along the Manhattan shoreline of the Hudson River,” she said. “At 3.08pm, the helicopter reached the George Washington Bridge and then turned again to fly south along the New Jersey shoreline.”

Tisch said that shortly after that, the helicopter “lost control and hit the water just a few feet off the coast of Pier A Park” in Hoboken, New Jersey. 

The investigation into the crash is ongoing. 

Images showed the chopper’s landing skids protruding from the river beside Manhattan’s West Side Highway as several boats clustered around the impact site.

Witness Bruce Wall said he saw the helicopter “falling apart” in mid-air, with the tail and propeller coming off. The propeller was still spinning without the aircraft as it fell, he said.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) identified the helicopter as a Bell 206.

The river is a busy shipping channel and was the scene of the dramatic 2009 incident when a US Airways aircraft safely landed in the water with all 155 people on board escaping with their lives and was dubbed “Miracle on the Hudson.”

With reporting from Eoghan Dalton and Press Association