A relative of the family of six tourists killed in the doomed helicopter crash in the Hudson River laid flowers at the crash site Saturday as he went about the grisly task of removing their bodies back to Spain to be buried.
“They left together. They left without suffering and they left with a smile on their faces,” Joan Camprubí Montal said about his sister Merce Camprubi Montal, her husband Agustin Escobar and their three children, Augustin Jr., 10, Mercedes, 8, and Victor, 4. “That’s important to us as a family. We want to remember and honor their smile forever.”
Mayor Adams joined Camprubí Montal as he took a boat to the site of Thursday’s helicopter crash, laying flowers for both his family and pilot Seankese “Sean” Johnson.
The flowers, Adams said, was a “symbolic gesture for the loss of life.”
“What should have been a happy vacation turned into an unimaginable tragedy,” he said. “Our hearts are broken and we want to say to the family members and the wider Spanish community that we’re here with you.
Agustin Escobar, and his wife, Merce Camprubi Montal, with two of their three children, are pictured in an undated photo. The family was killed in a helicopter crash on Thursday, April 10, 2025. (Facebook)
“No words can fill the void, the loss, but we can collaborate together and make sure the families involved get the support of this city,” Adams said at a brief presser at Pier 40.
Escobar, the CEO of Rail Infrastructure at Siemens Mobility, and his family were all killed with Johnson after pieces of the helicopter, including the rotor, appeared to break off in mid-air on the Jersey City side of the river Thursday afternoon.
The helicopter overturned and dropped from the sky, hitting the water upside down.
The National Transportation Safety Board has launched an investigation into the cause of the crash, but several pieces of the chopper, namely its rotors, were still missing.
NYPD divers on Saturday were using sonar to try to find the missing pieces at the bottom of the river.
Justin Persaud/Mayoral Photography Office
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Consul General of Spain Marta de Blas Mayordomo join a relative of the family of five who died in the recent Hudson River helicopter crash to lay flowers and address the media on Saturday, April 13, 2025 (Justin Persaud/Mayoral Photography Office)
Adams had flown back to New York after visiting the Dominican Republic, where he mourned the 221 people killed in the Santo Domingo nightclub roof collapse.
Avenues of investigation into the crash will include “reports of a large flock of birds in the area shortly before the crash,” NTSB Chairperson Jennifer Homendy said. Early speculation before the NTSB arrived was that the helicopter fell victim to a bird strike.
“We are aware of the reports and it is something we will be looking into,” she said. “Everything is on the table. We don’t rule anything out. We will not speculate on a preliminary cause.”
The copter first headed up the Hudson River to the George Washington Bridge, where it turned around and then headed back south, flying along the New Jersey side of the river before suddenly dropping upside down into the river near Hoboken, Mayor Adams and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Thursday.
The flight lasted less than 18 minutes, officials said.
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New York City Mayor Eric Adams, flanked by Joan Camprubi, brother of mom killed on the crash, arrives to speak during a press conference following a helicopter crash in the Hudson River at Pier 40, in New York City, on April 12, 2025. The Spanish family killed when a New York sightseeing helicopter plunged into the Hudson River, leaving no survivors, were celebrating a birthday, a local official said on April 11, 2025, as divers scoured for wreckage. (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP) (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)
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New York City Mayor Eric Adams, flanked by Joan Camprubi, brother of mom killed on the crash, arrives to speak during a press conference following a helicopter crash in the Hudson River at Pier 40, in New York City, on April 12, 2025. The Spanish family killed when a New York sightseeing helicopter plunged into the Hudson River, leaving no survivors, were celebrating a birthday, a local official said on April 11, 2025, as divers scoured for wreckage. (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP) (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)
The family came to New York City to celebrate the birthday of one of their children. Escobar was in New York City on business and had his family fly to the Big Apple so they could “extend the trip a couple days in New York City,” Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said Friday.
