Pilot gave chilling two-word warning earlier than crash killed household of 5
The pilot of a helicopter that crashed in New York’s Hudson River on Thursday, killing five members of a family of tourists and the pilot, reportedly told the base that he “needed fuel” moments before the fatal crash
A helicopter pilot who plunged into the Hudson River in New York said two words before the crash.
The accident claimed the lives of all six passengers on board. The pilot had reportedly radioed in to base just moments before the crash, stating that he “needed fuel” The fatal incident occurred around 3.15pm ET on Thursday (April 10), near Jersey City, and resulted in the deaths of a family of tourists from Barcelona and the pilot.
The family, consisting of parents Agustín Escobar and Merce Camprubi Montal along with their three young children, had arrived in New York earlier that day for a sightseeing adventure. Emergency services rushed to the scene shortly after the helicopter took off from a downtown Manhattan Skyport, but it was too late.
Michael Roth, 71, the owner of the helicopter, revealed to The Telegraph that the unidentified pilot had communicated his intention to return to the helipad but tragically never made it. “He [the pilot] called in that he was landing and that he needed fuel, and it should have taken him about three minutes to arrive, but 20 minutes later, he didn’t arrive,” Roth explained.
Roth added: “We’re all devastated. Every employee in our company is devastated. My wife has not stopped crying,” he shared. “I got a call from my manager and my downtown heliport and she said she heard there was a crash, and then my phone blew up from everybody. The death of the child of any human being, is a monumental disaster.”
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Roth admitted that he is at a loss as to how the accident happened, saying he has “no clue” about the cause of the tragedy.
“The only thing I know by watching a video of the helicopter falling down, that the main rotor blades weren’t on the helicopter,” Roth remarked, noting his astonishment as he’s never witnessed such an incident in his 30 years in the industry.
At a press conference, NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch reported that the chopper – a Bell 206L-4 LongRanger IV, known to the Federal Aviation Administration as N216MH – “lost control and hit the water”.
Mum-of-three Mercè was the great-granddaughter of Augusti Montal Galobart, Barcelona’s president from 1946 to 1952.
And she was the granddaughter of Augusti Montal Costa, who was in charge of the Catalan club from 1969 to 1977 and brought Johan Cruyff to the Camp Nou for world record fee, where he became a legend.
Her brother, Joan Camprubí Montal, was a candidate in 2024 to preside over the football team before pulling out of the race.
Augustin was the Global CEO of Rail Infrastructure at Siemens Mobility, while Mercè was a global commercialisation manager at Siemens Energy, according to her LinkedIn profile.
