Plane and helicopter collision over Hudson River, killing 9

A Liberty Tours’ sightseeing helicopter carrying Italian tourists over the Hudson River collided with a small plane on Saturday. All nine people aboard the two aircraft were believe to be killed.

Another helicopter pilot of Liberty Helicopter Tours, on the ground at the heliport, tried to radio and warn the pilots, police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. The warning didn’t happen in time or wasn’t heard.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, “The collision was not survivable.”

Recovered in the water were two bodies, one floating free and one in the wreckage, and other bodies were spotted in the debris in the river. Five Italian tourists and a pilot on the helicopter and the three people on the plane, including a child, are crash victims.

The plane, a Piper PA-32, was registered to LCA Partnership in Fort Washington, Pa. The helicopter was a Eurocopter AS 350 owned by Liberty Helicopters, a sightseeing and charter company.

The copter was struck by the plane shortly after lifting off from a heliport.

[via news.yahoo.com]