Hudson River divers on Monday found the wreckage of a small plane and one of two victims missing following a midair collision with a sightseeing helicopter that killed nine people.
The wreckage of the single-engine Piper was found in about 60 feet of water in the middle of the river, indicating it had drifted from the spot where it crashed, closer to New Jersey’s riverbank, said the New York Police Department’s top spokesman, Paul Browne. It was found on its side with no wings visible.
NYPD divers couldn’t remove the man’s body from the aircraft wreckage. The Army Corps of Engineers was being consulted about trying to pull the plane to the surface of the river, which is less than three-quarters of a mile wide at the crash site between New York and New Jersey. The mangled helicopter was raised from the river Sunday.
Nine people — two men and a boy from a Pennsylvania family on the plane and five Italian tourists and a pilot on the helicopter — died in Saturday’s collision, which occurred in a congested flyway popular with sightseers.
Before Monday afternoon, seven bodies had been recovered.
Police suspended their diving operations Monday evening and were to return to the water Tuesday.
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Next step
National Transportation Safety Board chief Debbie Hersman said on NBC’s “Today” show that investigators will eventually examine the aircrafts’ structural integrity and will try to determine how the initial impact occurred. The investigation is expected to take months.
