A helicopter plunged into the Hudson River on Thursday afternoon near Jersey City, authorities reported. The crash occurred around 3:15 p.m. local time near Pier 25, between West Street and Canal Street, in the area of the West Side Highway and Spring Street, according to initial reports cited by CBS News.
Following the crash, multiple vessels and a police helicopter responded to the scene. The New York Fire Department (FDNY) confirmed it is managing the emergency efforts. The cause of the crash remains unknown, and the investigation is still ongoing.
The incident impacted the area near the Water’s Soul sculpture, a well-known city landmark. Traffic delays and a heavy presence of emergency vehicles were reported. Authorities have not yet released information regarding the condition of those involved.
According to The Associated Press, the helicopter—a Bell 206 model—broke apart mid-air before crashing upside down into the river, as shown in several videos circulating on social media.
Eyewitnesses described dramatic scenes. Bruce Wall said he saw the aircraft “fall apart in the air,” noting that the rotor and tail detached while the rotor continued spinning, separated from the body of the helicopter. Lesly Camacho, a hostess at a restaurant in Hoboken, New Jersey, said the helicopter was spinning out of control before it hit the water violently. “There was a lot of smoke. It was spinning really fast and hit the water hard,” she said in a phone interview.
The crash occurred near the end of a maintenance pier beside a ventilation tower of the Holland Tunnel on the New Jersey side. Emergency vehicles, including fire trucks, arrived with lights flashing.
Although the sky was overcast at the time of the crash, visibility over the river was relatively clear. Rescue crews operated in water temperatures of approximately 7 degrees Celsius (44.6°F).
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed the aircraft was a Bell 206 and announced, alongside the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the launch of an investigation into the cause of the accident.
Manhattan’s airspace sees frequent commercial, private, and sightseeing flights. The city has several heliports that connect key points of the metropolitan area. In recent years, several aviation incidents have occurred in the region.
Among the most serious was a 2009 mid-air collision between a small plane and a sightseeing helicopter over the Hudson River that killed nine people, and a 2018 charter helicopter crash in the East River that left five dead. More recently, a medical transport plane crashed in a Philadelphia neighborhood in January, killing seven, just two days after a U.S. military helicopter collided with an American Airlines commercial plane in Washington.
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