Helicopter crashes in NYC river

4 October 2011 Last updated at 19:49 ET

A woman has died and two others are critically injured after a helicopter plunged into a river in New York City shortly after take-off, officials say.

Witnesses described how the privately owned Bell 206 aircraft spun out of control and fell into the East River near 34th Street in midtown Manhattan.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters it is thought the helicopter was upside down when it crashed.

He said it was not clear what caused the aircraft to spin out of control.

Mr Bloomberg also told Tuesday’s news conference that two of the passengers were believed to be Britons living in Portugal and the other two passengers, one of whom is also thought to be British, live in Australia.

As rescue workers pulled the helicopter wreckage out of the water, witnesses said it appeared to be outwardly intact. The aircraft was lowered by crane on to a recovery boat.

Cardiac arrest

At least seven boats joined the frantic rescue effort earlier.

One pilot and four passengers were aboard the helicopter when it crashed.

Witnesses described a man in the water diving down and coming back up, possibly in an attempt to free a trapped passenger.

But police divers pulled a woman dead from the aircraft about an hour after it went down at 15:22 (19:22 GMT).

The pilot – named in US media as Paul Dudley – was able to make his own way to the riverbank and remained at the scene.

Two women – one of whom suffered cardiac arrest and the other respiratory arrest – and a male passenger were admitted to hospitals.

“All four were known to each other. We do not know if they were blood relatives or just friends, but they were travelling in a group,” a New York Police Department spokesman told reporters.

The fire department is delivering updates via its Twitter feed.

Weather conditions were clear with visibility of up to 10 miles (16km) and wind gusts at up to 20mph, according to the LaGuardia airport weather station.

‘Splashed and sank’

Dan Sweeney, manager of nearby restaurant The Water Club, told US news outlet NBC New York that the helicopter appeared to be landing when it crashed.

“It looked like it was trying to land at the heliport and missed the landing,” he said.

“It went down pretty fast. could see the splash. could see the top of it and it just disappeared.”

Joy Garnett, a witness on a nearby dock, told the Associated Press news agency that she had seen the aircraft lift about 25ft (8m) off the ground, before it span around two or three times and then dropped into the water.

The helicopter flipped over, its blades sticking up out of the water, and was “obviously out of control”, she said.

“It didn’t make much noise,” Ms Garnett said. “It was just a splash and sunk.”

Carlos Acevedo, who was in a nearby park with his wife, said he saw the helicopter hit the water.

“It sank fast, in seconds. Like the water was sucking it in,” he said.

Mayor Bloomberg said “a tragedy like this just breaks r heart”, adding that the passengers had come “to see the best of our city”.

A spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board said the pilot was being interviewed as part of the investigation into the crash.

The US Coast Guard said the East River had been closed to commercial traffic.

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