The victims included Siemens executive Agustin Escobar, his wife, Mels Campulvi Montal, global manager of the energy technology company, and three children, along with the pilot, as well as the person explained in the investigation told The Associated Press.
Photos posted on the helicopter company’s website show the couple and their children on board just before the flight began smiling.
The flight departed the downtown heliport around 3pm and lasted less than 18 minutes. Radar data shows that they flew north along the Manhattan skyline and then returned south towards the Statue of Liberty.
Video of the collision shows part of the aircraft falling through the air into water near the coastline of Jersey City, New Jersey.
Rescue teams circled the submerged aircraft within minutes of the impact near the edge of the long maintenance pier of the ventilation tower that provided the Dutch tunnel. Recovery crew used a floating crane to wind a broken helicopter out of the water just after 8pm.
The bodies were also recovered from the river, Mayor Eric Adams said.
The flight was run by a New York helicopter, officials said.
MNA/