
-With AAP.
1. “I didn’t see it, but I felt it.” At least one dead after helicopter crash on top of a New York City skyscraper.
A helicopter has made a crash landing onto the roof of a Manhattan skyscraper, killing at least one person and sending a plume of smoke skyward from the top of the building.
The crash occurred shortly before 2pm local time on Monday, on a rainy day at the AXA Equitable Center on Seventh Avenue.
Dozens of emergency vehicles swarmed the busy area, a few blocks north of Times Square.
“My message to New Yorkers is, to be very clear, there was no act of terror here,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says following a helicopter crash atop a Manhattan building. https://t.co/9hoTVzXKK3 pic.twitter.com/uBcrALzoMV
— CNN International (@cnni) June 10, 2019
The city fire department said on Twitter that one unidentified person was killed. Media reports said the person killed was the helicopter pilot.
Governor Andrew Cuomo, who was at the scene soon after the crash, told reporters it appeared a helicopter attempted a forced emergency landing on the roof and no one inside the building had been injured.
Nathan Hutton, who works on the 29th floor, said the building shook when the helicopter slammed into the roof.
“It felt like you were just standing there, and someone takes their hand and just shoves you,” he said. “You felt it through the whole building.”
Melvin Douglas, 50, who was selling umbrellas on the street, said he heard a “rumble” when the helicopter crash landed.
“I didn’t see it, but I felt it,” Douglas said. “Smoke was on top of the building.”