Hudson River helicopter crash: Bird strike examined as possible cause of tragedy

A bird strike may have been responsible for the tragic deaths of a family of five and pilot in a horror in a major river.

tourists Agustin Escobar, the CEO of Siemens Spain, and Merce Camprubi Montal, who were killed with their three children, had booked the helicopter ride in New York City ahead of the eighth birthday of one of their youngsters. The family died alongside their pilot, 36-year-old veteran flier Seankese Johnson, when the chopper plunged into the city's Hudson River at around 3.17pm on April 10. While a probe into the tragedy remains ongoing, it has emerged investigators are examining reports of flocks of birds being spotted near the crash scene ahead of the aircraft seemingly spiralling out of control.

New York Police commissioner Jessica Tisch said during an update on Friday that the is "aware" of reports that a large flock of was seen in the area shortly before the crash. She added it was "something we are looking into". Commissioner Tisch said: "We are aware of those reports, we discussed it this morning."

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"It's something we are looking into. What I would say to the public is that if something struck you as different or made you pause, or it crossed your mind that you might want to share with our investigators, there is no downside in sharing that information with us."

Witnesses previously said they had seen the aircraft's main rotor blade fly off in the moments before it dropped into the water "really hard" on Thursday. Ipsitaa Banigrhi, a resident of Jersey City, said the sound of the helicopter failing "felt like thunder", adding she saw "black particles" flying around the scene.

She told WCBS she thought "it’s just dust or birds" before emergency vehicles crowded the scene with blaring sirens. She said: "I heard, like, such a loud sound. It felt like thunder. And because it was raining today, it was just like, OK, maybe. And then I saw, like, black particles flying.

"Again, I thought maybe it's just like, dust, or birds, and then we heard all the emergency vehicles and sirens go by, and I think that's when it was like, OK, what's happening." Lesly Camacho, a worker at a restaurant along the river in Hoboken, said it appeared to spin uncontrollably, and another witness added its "blade flew off".

Avi Rakesh told NBC News: "I don't know what happened to the tail, but it just straight up dropped." Experts had previously warned that the chopper may have crashed becuase it was missing a crucial component named a 'Jesus nut'.

Aviation analyst Julian Bray said the missing part may have caused the rotor to detach, creating the dramatic moment te aircraft falls out of the sky. Mr Bray told The Sun: “What appears to have happened with this particular helicopter is that the rotor, the main rotor… had detached, because in one video we see the blades spinning away from the helicopter."

"But this appears to have sliced through the back half of the helicopter, so the fuselage then drops like a stone into the river Hudson right opposite Pier 41.”

“There is a particular procedure which has to be checked every time it’s serviced, and it’s known as the Jesus Bolt… because without that the whole thing will fall apart. It looks as though it’s [the] Jesus bolt or Jesus PIN. It’s either defective or wasn’t tightened up, or for some reason it sheared.”