New details begin to emerge in tragic NYC helicopter crash that claimed entire family

The world watched in horror last week when a helicopter plummeted into the Hudson River in New York City, killing an entire family vacationing from Spain as well as the pilot, Sean Johnson.

As the New York Post reports, details are now emerging on what may have led to the disaster over Manhattan and what sorts of mechanical problems could have plagued the Bell 206 L-4 helicopter that met a most devastating end.

Full day of flights

Officials probing Thursday’s tragic crash have revealed that the helicopter carrying six souls was already on its eighth journey of the day at the time of the calamity.

Compounding the mystery that authorities are now attempting to unravel is the fact that the helicopter did not have a flight recorder on board.

Furthermore, no video or camera recorders from inside the cabin have been recovered in the aftermath of the crash, though a large portion of the helicopter itself has been pulled from the frigid river, including the cabin, cockpit, stabilizer finlets, vertical fin, and the forward part of the tail boom, all of which will be sent to Washington, D.C. for further assessment by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Notably, however, the chopper’s main rotor blades have yet to be found.

Spanish family perishes in crash

As ABC News reported, the family of five that died in the crash hailed from Spain and had just arrived from Barcelona before embarking on the sightseeing tour that took them over the Hudson River.

The patriarch of the family, Agustin Escobar, was Global CEO of Rail Infrastructure at Siemens Mobility, and his wife, Merce Camprubi Montal, was also employed by an arm of the same company.

The couple’s three children, ages 4, 8, and 10, were onboard the helicopter as well, a trip that was reportedly part of a birthday celebration for the middle child.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez remarked on the horrific events, calling the situation “devastating” and an “unimaginable tragedy.”

Relatives in mourning

According to NBC News, relatives of the deceased family are in the process of coming to terms with what occurred, with Merce Camprubi Montal’s brother on Saturday throwing a floral tribute into the river where his loved ones died.

“They left together. They left without suffering,” he said.

The grief-stricken brother and uncle continued, “We want to move the bodies as soon as possible, home, back home, with all the family, to rest in peace together in our place. But we also want to thank all the institutional support that we received, starting from Spain, from also Catalonia, from U.S., New York, New Jersey.”