A helicopter crashed into the top of an office tower in Manhattan, New York, midday Monday. The pilot was killed in this accident, the exact causes of which are still unknown. “There was a hard helicopter landing on the rooftop of 787 7th Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. The fire has been extinguished, ”the New York Police (NYPD) announced on Twitter.
Mayor Bill De Blasio has announced the opening of an investigation by city officials and the NTSB, the federal agency responsible for transportation safety. “We have no indication of any link with terrorism,” he told reporters. “It could have been a lot worse. Thank goodness no one else was injured in this absolutely astonishing accident, ”he added.
The 54-storey tower, the Axa Equitable Center, about 210 meters high, houses prestigious tenants such as the French bank BNP Paribas, Citibank or the international law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher. All employees who worked in the building were quickly evacuated.
Thick fog
“There is a helicopter which made a forced landing or an emergency landing … on the roof of the building for one reason or another”, explained on the spot the governor Andrew Cuomo, after speaking with the emergency services. “People in the building said they felt the building shake,” he said. In the building, no one was injured. “
The helicopter was a private Agusta A109E type aircraft, according to the US Federal Aviation Agency (FAA). He had taken off eleven minutes earlier from the 34th Street helipad and was checked in for a business flight. A photo released by firefighters shows him reduced to debris on the roof of the building. According to the FAA, only the pilot was on board.
As New York City was blanketed in thick fog, some media reported that a no-fly ban was in effect in that area at the time, due to lack of visibility. Mayor Bill De Blasio said he did not know whether the aircraft had received clearance to take off from the control tower at La Guardia airport, as it was supposed to.
Earthquake
The aircraft caught fire on landing. Fire trucks and police vehicles quickly cordoned off the area. Firefighters arrived at the scene in five minutes but it took them about thirty minutes to extinguish the fire, said Thomas Richardson, one of their officials.
“As soon as there is a fire in an office tower, one of the difficulties is to have enough water pressure to reach the top floors of the building. But we have procedures for that, ”he explained. He said there was no panic but “a little nervousness”, especially since it took thirty minutes to evacuate the entire building. More than a hundred emergency vehicles have been deployed. The neighborhood was temporarily evacuated.
