What began as a scenic helicopter ride for a visiting Spanish family ended in a heartbreaking tragedy above the Hudson River—leaving six lives lost and two continents in mourning.

It was supposed to be a highlight of their New York vacation: a breathtaking aerial tour for Agustin Escobar, a respected global executive at Siemens, his wife Merce Camprubi Montal, and their three young children, ages 4, 5, and 11. But within moments of takeoff, the promise of wonder turned to horror.

Shortly after 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 10, their Bell 206 helicopter lifted from a Manhattan helipad, its rotors humming into the cloudy sky. Just minutes into the flight, the pilot made a routine radio call—he needed to stop for fuel. What happened next unfolded too fast to prevent, but too slow to forget.

Michael Roth, owner of New York Helicopter, the company behind the tour, was devastated. “He called in that he was landing and needed fuel. He should’ve arrived in three minutes. Twenty minutes later, he didn’t. We knew,” Roth said, his voice breaking. “This has shattered us. My wife hasn’t stopped crying.”

Investigators are now working around the clock to uncover what happened during what should have been a routine flight. Aviation experts suspect mechanical failure—potentially catastrophic..