The helicopter went down in the East River around sunset with six people on board
NEW YORK CITY: A helicopter crashed into New York City’s East River Sunday night, reportedly killing five of the six people aboard, FDNY and NYPD officials said.
Video taken by a bystander and posted on Twitter shows the red helicopter land hard in the water and then capsize, its rotors slapping at the water.
The aircraft — a Eurocopter AS350 — went down near Roosevelt Island around 7 p.m. Sunday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement.
Officials said police received dozens of 911 calls about the crash.
“Mayday… Mayday… Mayday… East River engine failure!” the pilot said during a distress call before his helicopter plummeted into the water.
Six people were aboard when it crashed, the Coast Guard said in a statement. One person was rescued by a tugboat and five others were “recovered by divers,” it said.
Video on social media appeared to show the red chopper crashing into the river.
@cnn @FoxNews just witnessed a helicopter crash into the East River .. hope everyone’s ok. Caught it all on tape! pic.twitter.com/saHOMTLR69
— JJ Magers (@JJmagers) March 11, 2018
