Six killed in Hudson River helicopter crash near Jersey City

🚨A helicopter carrying a family crashed into the Hudson River off Hoboken

🚨Five family members and the pilot were pronounced dead

🚨The NTSB is investigating the crash

A helicopter crash into the Hudson River on Thursday afternoon killed five members of a family and the pilot people on board.

The New York Helicopters Bell 206 helicopter that left the downtown Manahattan Heliport in lower Manhattan at 3 p.m., flew north to the George Washington Bridge and then headed south before crashing around 3:15 p.m. off a pier in Hoboken, according to New York Mayor Eric Adams. First responders from both New York City and New Jersey responded immediately to the crash scene.

It was carrying the pilot and a family of five from Spain.  At least three children were on board. NYPD and FDNY divers pulled them from the water. Four were pronounced dead at the scene and two were taken to area hospitals.

The identities of those on board were not disclosed pending notification of family.

Chief Meteorologist Dan Zarrow said it was cloudy and breezy at the time of the crash at the weather station at Liberty State Park with winds gusting out of the southeast at 16 mph. The Downtown Manhattan/Wall Street Heliport had gusts to 21 mph at the time, with 10-mile visibility at the time. It had not started raining yet, Zarrow said. Drizzle began about an hour later.

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Splash down in several pieces

Videos posted on social media showed helicopter mostly submerged, upside-down in the water.

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

Dani Horbiak was at her home in Jersey City 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 helicopter was spinning uncontrollably with “a bunch of smoke coming out” before it slammed into the water, said Lesly Camacho, a hostess at a restaurant along the river in Hoboken, New Jersey.

All vessel traffic on the river has been halted, according to the Coast Guard. A safety zone has been created across the entire Hudson River one mile north and one mile south of the Holland Tunnel.

The Seastreak ferry warned there could be delays as a result of the zone.

Busy skies over the Hudson

The skies over Manhattan are routinely filled with both planes and helicopters, both private recreational aircraft and commercial and tourist flights. Manhattan has several helipads that whisk business executives and others to destinations throughout the metropolitan area.

Over the years, there have been multiple crashes, including a collision between a plane and a tourist helicopter over the Hudson River in 2009 that killed nine people and the 2018 crash of a charter helicopter offering “open door” flights that went down into the East River, killing five people.