CEO of touring helicopter which crashed into Hudson River killing six people breaks silence

The head of New York Helicopter has expressed profound grief after one of the company's tour helicopters plunged into the Hudson River, claiming all six lives aboard. On April 10, approximately 3:15pm Eastern Time, a Bell 206 LongRanger helicopter plummeted into the Hudson River in New York City shortly after departing from a Manhattan heliport for a sightseeing excursion. Emergency crews hurried to the scene where divers extracted four individuals—two still alive—but they later succumbed to their injuries, resulting in the deaths of all six occupants.

The passengers have been identified as a Spanish family consisting of two adults—Siemens executive Agustin Escobar and his wife Mercè Camprubí Montal, a global manager at an energy technology firm—along with their three children. The pilot's identity remains undisclosed by officials.

Michael Roth, the 71-year-old proprietor of New York Helicopter and the aircraft, informed The Telegraph that the pilot "called in that he was landing and that he needed fuel" and intended to return to the helipad, but never arrived. Roth stated: "It should have taken him about three minutes to arrive, but 20 minutes later, he didn't arrive."

"I got a call from my manager and my downtown heliport and she said she heard there was a crash, and then my phone blew up from everybody," he added. "Then one of my pilots flew over the Hudson and saw the helicopter upside down."

Roth noted that "every employee in [the] company is devastated" and his "wife has not stopped crying." He concluded: "We're all devastated. [...] The death of the child of any human being, is a monumental disaster."

In response, New York State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal has urged for a prohibition on helicopter sightseeing tours. He told ABC 7 New York: "We averted disaster possibly by just minutes. And that is the concern here. Which is if a helicopter gets in trouble in a densely populated area like Manhattan, the disaster could be far worse."

He continued: "There's no reason to allow tourists and tour flight operators to use our valuable precious airspace. The danger is that FAA regulates airspace above 500 feet, so the city and state are prohibited from passing laws that make tourist choppers safer."

The New York City Fire Department announced on Twitter that the National Transportation Safety Board and FBI are examining the crash cause.