Spanish couple named as victims in fatal New York helicopter crash

New York authorities have named two of the adult victims who died in Thursday’s fatal helicopter crash as Agustín Escobar and Merce Camprubi Montal, a married couple from Spain.

A spokesperson for City Hall said overnight that the they were among the three adults and three children to have died in the accident. The names of the other victims have not yet been formally released.

The three children were believed to be the couple’s children and the third adult victim was the pilot.

The cause of the crash is unknown and is under investigation.

Escobar was a senior executive with the German technology firm Siemens and was the CEO of rail infrastructure at its Siemens Mobility Division. Previously he was the CEO and president of Siemens Spain, according to a company announcement.

Pedro Sanchez, the prime minister of Spain, said in a statement on X, translated by the Spanish Embassy in Washington, that the crash was “an unimaginable tragedy.”

The helicopter, one of the tourist flights that take in the sights of Manhattan, took off from the Wall Street heliport at 2:59 p.m. It lost control after it turned at the George Washington Bridge to move along the New Jersey shoreline some time after 3 p.m., officials said.

Video posted to social media showed the helicopters plunging into the river.

An eyewitnesses described seeing the helicopter fall apart as it hit the river.

President Donald Trump called the crash “terrible” in a Truth Social Post Thursday night. “God bless the families and friends of the victims,” he said.