Agustin Escober, an executive of Siemens Mobility, arrived in New York City from Barcelona, Spain, to celebrate one of their three children, Spanish newspaper El Diario reported. The helicopter ride that killed all five of them was part of the celebration as on the first day in the city they planned to tour Manhattan, taking a trip overlooking the Statue of Liberty.
Escobar, his wife Merce Camprubi Montal, and their three kids — ages 4,5,11, were killed along with the unidentified pilot when the chopper split mid-air and splashed into the murky, cold waters of the Hudson River.
Before their trip, they took a family photo standing in front of the Bell 206L-4 LongRanger IV helicopter that eventually took all of them down.
How did the NYC copter crash into the Hudson River?
Escobar served as CEO of Rail Infrastructure at Siemens Mobility, the transportation solutions division of Siemens. Camprubà was the global commercialization manager for Siemens Energy, according to her LinkedIn page. Siemens Energy is an independent company that was spun off from Siemens AG in 2020.
It is not yet known what exactly happened in the final moments of the helicopter. The chopper took off at 2.59 pm from Manhattan’s downtown heliport. After circling the Statue of Liberty, it flew north along the Hudson River, reaching the George Washington Bridge by 3:08 pm. It then turned south along the New Jersey shoreline, where it lost control shortly after. In between, the copter pilot called the base that he was coming back to take fuel.
At 3.17 pm, several 911 calls were reported, indicating that the helicopter flew only for around 15 minutes and it already needed fuel. Two children were taken to Jersey City Medical Center, where they were pronounced dead. The other four, including the pilot, were found dead at the scene.
The private company operating the helicopter was previously involved in two safety incidents. Michael Roth, the CEO of the company, said he was devastated.“I’m a father, a grandfather and my wife hasn’t stopped crying since this afternoon,” he said.
