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| Another Helicopter Crashes this Week |
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print story|email storylast updated: 6/17/2005
Another Helicopter Crashes this WeekJune 17, 2005 ¡ª A corporate helicopter plunged tail-first into the East River just seconds after takeoff Friday afternoon, the second helicopter crash off Manhattan in the last four days. Rescuers pulled all eight on board out of the choppy water.
IMAGES: From the Scene
None of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening, said Jared Bernstein, spokesman for the city Office of Emergency Management.
Two pilots and six passengers, all businessmen with the international financial services company MBNA Corp., were aboard the Sikorski S-76 when it took off from the 34th Street heliport around 4:40 p.m., police said.
The copter made it barely one block north when it suddenly fell tail-first, landing in the East River just blocks south of the United Nations, said police spokesman Inspector Michael Coan.
Witness Thomas Overby, 48, said the helicopter appeared to take off normally before something went terribly wrong. Once the helicopter hit the water, Overby spotted men in business suits screaming "Help!" as they bobbed in the East River.
Three of the victims were pulled more than a dozen blocks south by the current before they were rescued at about 23rd Street, apparently by a private vessel, the Half Moon. All eight were taken to Bellevue Hospital, said Fire Department spokeswoman Virginia Lam; four of the survivors of Tuesday's crash were brought to Bellevue, too.
Rescue workers were treating a ninth victim who jumped into the water in a rescue effort, Lam said. At least three of the victims were loaded onto gurneys at the end of East 42nd Street as traffic cruised past on the FDR Drive.
According to police, the helicopter arrived to pick up six passengers in business suits at about 4:30 p.m. The craft was registered to MBNA, which is based in Wilmington, police said. Jim Donahue, a spokesman for MBNA, said he believed the helicopter was headed to Wilmington.
Seconds later, it inexplicably crashed into the river, setting off the second water rescue scramble this week by the Coast Guard, police and fire departments. The helicopter sank after the crash, and police scuba divers were searching for the wreckage.
The Army Corps of Engineers was sending along a vessel, the Heyward, with a 20-ton crane to remove the damaged helicopter from the river.
The Federal Aviation Administration did not immediately return a call for comment about the accident.
The prior accident happened Tuesday, shortly after a helicopter took off for a sightseeing flight above the Manhattan skyline. Six tourists and the pilot were hospitalized after the helicopter did a 360-degree roll before the pilot put it down in the water.
Passenger Karen Butler, of Essex, England, remained in serious but stable condition at Bellevue Hospital on Friday.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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