Hudson River helicopter crash: Witness recalls horror, says he ‘heard, saw a big splash'

A 21-year-old walking along the Hudson River Greenway saw the helicopter accident that claimed six lives, including those of three children.

In a horrifying tragedy, a helicopter plunged into the Hudson River near Manhattan’s Pier 40 on April 10, killing all six people, including three children, onboard. An eyewitness who saw the horror crash told the New York Post how the chopper went underwater within ‘seconds’.

Debris floats in the water at the scene where a helicopter crashed into the Hudson River. (AP)

“It was going fast”

An eyewitness saw the chopper go down while walking along the Hudson River Greenway. 21-year-old Eric Campoverde told the outlet, “I was like, ‘oh sh–’,” adding, “I was walking home from work when I saw the helicopter going down at a 45-degree angle.”

“Then I heard and saw a big splash. It was going fast,” he continued. “It was maybe on top of the water for three or four seconds before it went under. It was fast,” he recalled.

Another witness, 28-year-old Bruce Wall, told the outlet, “It was falling apart probably 15 feet before it actually fell, and then the tail whipped off, and the propeller fell while it was falling.”

Wall added, “Like a boom sound when it hit, it was a crackling sound I guess you could say, something breaking apart in mid-air. The helicopter was still pretty loud and then just a loud, loud crash into water.”

Chilling footage:

A scary footage of the moment the helicopter catastrophically broke apart mid-air before falling into the river has surfaced on social media. Other footage shows the propellers of the chopper dropping in the river.

Who were the six people killed?

The chopper carrying a family from Spain ‘split into half’ before hitting the river and vanishing underwater. Agustin Escobar, president and CEO of Siemens in Spain, his wife and three children were among those killed, reported the New York Post. The sixth victim was the pilot, whose identity remains undisclosed.

The NYPD divers recovered all six victims, reported the outlet. While four were pronounced dead at the scene, two died in the hospital.