A relative of the family who died when their a helicopter crashed into the Hudson River in New York has paid a heartfelt tribute to them.
Agustín Escobar, 49, and Mercè Camprubí Montal, 39, had travelled to the US from Spain with their three children, Agustín, 10, Mercè, eight, and Víctor, four.
The family of five and their pilot, Seankese ‘Sean’ Johnson, 36, died after their helicopter ‘fell apart’ and plunged into the water.
Mercè was due to celebrate her ninth birthday on Friday – just one day after the fatal crash.
Ms Montal’s brother, Joan Camprubí, said: ‘As a family, we want to [remember] and honour their happiness and their smile forever.’
He added that the family, from Barcelona, ‘left together’ and ‘without suffering’.
‘We will never forget you,’ Mr Camprubí told reporters on Saturday.
‘And we will keep your smile alive every day of our lives. And that, I think, is the greatest legacy that we can give.’
New York Mayor Eric Adams joined Mr Camprubí to lay flowers at the crash site ‘as a symbolic gesture for the loss of life’.
Adams said he laid flowers as a way of ‘acknowledging that our words cannot bring back their family members but it is our way of saying as New Yorkers we stand united with this family during this moment of grief’.
He added: ‘What should have been a joyful vacation turned into an unimaginable tragedy.’
Adams also paid tribute to the helicopter pilot, Mr Johnson, who was a Navy Seal veteran.
Video footage appeared to show the Bell 206 helicopter upside down in the water near Holland Tunnel around 3.17 pm after it reportedly ‘fell apart’ mid-air, with the tail and propeller coming off.
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators have not yet confirmed what caused the crash.
Officials have said they are looking into reports of a large flock of birds spotted in the area before the incident.
The helicopter was not equipped with any black box flight recorders, but the NTSB said it was checking its flight control system.
The helicopter’s main rotor, main gear box, tail rotor and a large portion of the tail boom have not been found, the NTSB said on Saturday.
The main fuselage, which includes the cockpit and cabin, along with the forward portion of the tail boom, the horizontal stabiliser finlets and the vertical fin, have been recovered from the water.
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