Spanish CEO and Family Among Six Killed in Hudson Helicopter Crash

Tragedy in the Sky

A routine sightseeing tour turned into a devastating tragedy Thursday afternoon when a helicopter carrying a Spanish family of five and their pilot plunged into the icy waters of the Hudson River, killing all six on board.

Agustín Escobar, the president and CEO of Siemens in Spain and a seasoned global executive in rail infrastructure, was traveling with his wife, Merce Camprubi Montal, and their three children, all believed to be in middle school or younger. The family had just arrived in New York City from Barcelona earlier that day, ready to explore the Big Apple together.

Their excitement was captured in heart-wrenching images posted to the New York Helicopter Tours website, showing the smiling family bundled up and posing in front of the Bell 206L-4 LongRanger IV helicopter that would, tragically, be their last ride.

The aircraft, operated by New York Helicopter, took off from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport and followed a typical sightseeing route—circling the Statue of Liberty, heading north toward the George Washington Bridge, and returning south along New Jersey’s shoreline. But at around 3:15 p.m., something went horribly wrong.

According to witnesses and video footage, the helicopter appeared to break apart midair. A rotor was seen detaching before the aircraft violently nose-dived into the Hudson near a ventilation building above the Holland Tunnel, just across from Manhattan’s West Village. Debris scattered across the water, and despite swift emergency response, four people were pronounced dead at the scene. Two others were pulled from the river alive but later died at the hospital.

The identity of the pilot, who also perished in the crash, has not been released.

The cause of the accident remains unknown. Authorities from the Coast Guard, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the National Transportation Safety Board are actively investigating, and efforts are underway to salvage the wreckage from the riverbed.