A Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman said Sunday the Eurocopter AS350 went down...

NEW YORK (AP) - All five passengers aboard a helicopter that crashed into New York City's East River were confirmed dead early Monday morning by a NYPD spokesman. (Andres Kudacki/AP)

A privately chartered helicopter doing a photo shoot crashed into New York City’s East River on Sunday night and flipped upside down in the water, killing all five passengers aboard, officials said. The sixth person - the pilot - freed himself and was rescued by a passing tugboat, according to police. There were six people on the Eurocopter AS350, which was registered to Liberty Helicopters and was being used for a private charter photo shoot. Video taken by a bystander and posted on Twitter shows the red helicopter land hard in the water and then capsize, its rotors slapping at the water. In this image made from video provided by WNYW, New York City Fire Department Commissioner Daniel Nigro speaks during a press conference a deadly helicopter crash in New York on Sunday, March 11, 2018. They worked very quickly, as fast as they could.”

Nigro said the harnesses designed to be worn for safety may have actually hindered the passengers’ escape. The helicopter hit the cold water at East 96th Street on Manhattan’s Upper East Side neighborhood about 7 p.m., local and federal authorities later confirmed. First responders were not only operating in frigid water, but they were working against time inside a helicopter that, by the time they arrived had turned upside down. Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images

The Federal Aviation Administration tweeted that it was investigating the crash and the helicopter was "reportedly inverted in the water." In 2009, a sightseeing helicopter of the same model and operated by the same company as the one in Sunday's wreck collided with a small, private plane over the Hudson River, killing nine people, including a group of Italian tourists. A helicopter on a sightseeing tour of Manhattan crashed into the Hudson River in July 2007, shaking up the eight people aboard but injuring no one. Another helicopter crashed into the Hudson River in July 2007 with no casualties, and two helicopters crashed into the East River during the same week in June 2005, with more than a dozen people injured. Investigators concluded that the helicopter was flying too high and the pilot of the Piper PA-32R was distracted by a Teterboro Airport dispatcher and failed to see the chopper, according to National Transportation Safety Board records.
A helicopter crash in Manhattan's East River kills five people.