A family of five visiting New York City from Barcelona, Spain, was tragically killed when their sightseeing helicopter crashed into the Hudson River on Thursday.

Just 18 minutes into their sightseeing tour, something went terribly wrong — the helicopter lost control and crashed into the water just a few feet from Pier A Park in Hoboken.

A new update reveals that the pilot radioed back to base to alert them to the fact that the chopper was already short on fuel just minutes into the trip.

71-year-old Michael Roth, owner of New York Helicopter, a company that provides sky tours of the Big Apple, told The Telegraph that the pilot – yet to be identified – had contacted the base to tell them the group were returning to the helipad.

Tragically, they never made it.

“Never seen anything like that in my life”

Video from the tragic crash shows the helicopter flipped upside down in the water near Manhattan’s West Side Highway and Spring Street.

According to witnesses, the tail and rotor blades appeared to detach mid-air before the aircraft plunged into the river.