By Ginger Adams Otis, Jacob Passy and Gareth Vipers

The Spanish parents who died in a Hudson River helicopter crash along with their three children had globe-trotting corporate careers and often traveled as a family.

Agustín Escobar Cañadas, 49 years old, was the chief executive of a Siemens division in Spain. Mercè Camprubí Montal, 39, was a global marketing manager for Siemens Energy who had worked across Latin America and in the U.S. and Canada, including a stint in New York City. She was the granddaughter of a former president of FC Barcelona, the sports club known for its powerhouse soccer team.

The family's visit to New York was timed to coincide with what would have been their daughter's ninth birthday on April 11. Their sons were 10 and 4 years old. The five were taking a sightseeing ride over New York when the aircraft crashed.

The pilot, identified as Seankese Johnson, 36, also died.

Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the accident, said Friday afternoon during a press conference that her agency wouldn't speculate on the cause of the crash.

"Our team is focused on helicopter airworthiness and structures and systems," she said. "It takes time to gather information."

A 17-person task force was on the scene, including 10 investigators, with another 10 specialists in Washington, D.C., supporting the investigation, Homendy added. They are looking into the helicopter's owner, operator, maintenance logs and pilot qualifications, as well as the accident scene and wreckage. Investigators are still trying to find the main rotor and tail rotor in the river, she said. Family members of the five passengers have traveled to New York from Spain, Montal's brother Joan Camprubí Montal said Friday. "There are no words to describe what we are experiencing," he said in a letter signed by both families and shared on X.

"Grateful for your support that keeps us strong," the letter said. "The Escobar-Camprubís will always be among us, with their joy and vitality. We love you, family."

Montal came from an influential Catalan family, known for its involvement in the textile trade and for links to FC Barcelona. Her great-grandfather, Agustí Montal i Galobart, was president of the club in the late 1940s and early 1950s, while her grandfather, Agustí Montal i Costa, held the position for much of the 1970s.

Escobar -- a native of Puertollano, a small city in central Spain that named him its Favorite Son in 2023 -- had served in several executive roles for Siemens, most recently as chief executive for rail infrastructure. He had recently traveled to England, India and Norway for work, and often shared details and pictures of Siemens's projects on his LinkedIn page.

Montal also shared some early pictures of them as a couple and more recent shots of them as a family enjoying skiing excursions and beach trips.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez shared his condolences on Friday. "An unimaginable tragedy. I share in the grief of the victims' loved ones at this heartbreaking time," he wrote in a post on X.

Escobar's colleagues recalled him as a family man and a generous business partner who worked at the company for more than 20 years. "He was a wonderful person," said Isaac Monteagudo Casain, an investment adviser who said he was in business with Escobar.

Ana Belén Rueda Martín, a data-science manager who said Escobar was her first boss in 2007, described him as a "brilliant, very approachable" leader.

A spokesman for Siemens on Friday said the company was deeply saddened by the deaths. "Our heartfelt condolences go out to all their loved ones, " he said.

The helicopter, a Bell 206 operated by the New York Helicopter tour company, crashed into the water on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River, near Hoboken, officials said. It departed from a downtown Manhattan heliport around 2:59 p.m. Eastern time and briefly traveled south before turning north up the Hudson River.

The aircraft reached the George Washington Bridge at 3:08 p.m., NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. It then turned to travel southward along the New Jersey shoreline before it lost control and hit the water, Tisch said. The helicopter appears to have been upside down when it crashed, she added.

Mike Roth, president of New York Helicopter, which operated the tour, said he wouldn't speak today. The company's website advertises that it has "an industry-leading safety record" and says the Bell 206 helicopter it flies is "considered the safest, most reliable aircraft in the world."

According to the helicopter's registration information with the Federal Aviation Administration, it was owned by Louisiana-based Meridian Helicopters. The company didn't respond to a request for comment. As of Friday, Meridian had restricted access to its website.

The National Transportation Safety Board will lead an investigation to determine the cause of the crash alongside the FAA.

New York City Council member Gale Brewer says she has fought to ban nonessential helicopters from flying over New York City since 2002, including sightseeing tours and commuter flights to local airports and nearby destinations such as the Hamptons.

"We don't want any nonessential helicopters at all," she says.

More than three dozen people have died in New York City helicopter crashes since 1977, according to an Associated Press report.

A deadly 2018 helicopter crash in the East River that killed five people prompted the city to ban sightseeing tours out of the city that use helicopters without doors. Such tours still operate out of New Jersey, Brewer says. That accident also led to new federal regulations related to the safety restraints used for open-door helicopter flights. Thursday's crash involved a helicopter with doors.

Another deadly helicopter crash in 2019 prompted then-New York Mayor Bill de Blasio to call for a ban on helicopters flying over Manhattan.

Write to Gareth Vipers at gareth.vipers@wsj.com, Ginger Adams Otis at Ginger.AdamsOtis@wsj.com and Jacob Passy at jacob.passy@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 11, 2025 22:09 ET (02:09 GMT)

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