A Liberty Helicopters Eurocopter AS350 chopper that had been chartered for a private photo shoot, has crashed in New York’s East River after an engine failure. Three of the passengers were taken to the hospital with severe injuries but their death was confirmed on Monday morning.
According to the Fire Fighting Department the passengers were tightly harnessed, an open-door aerial photo shoot, making it more difficult to get out in an emergency. In total five people have died in the accident, the pilot was able to free himself and was rescued.
According to their web site Liberty Helicopters is the largest and most experienced helicopter sightseeing and charter service in the Northeast.
At least #two people have been killed and #one rescued after a helicopter went down in #New York’s East River pic.twitter.com/xXYIqKm1zx
— Rotarywing (@Rotarywings1) March 12, 2018
More video emerges showing moment tour helicopter crashed into New York City's East River. pic.twitter.com/35KrJAmWVt
— Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) March 12, 2018
This is the first notable aviation incident in the US in 2018!