Horrible helicopter crash in New York: 2 people dead, 3 in critical condition

East River air crash has New Yorkers in shock.

A helicopter plunged into New York City's East River on the 11th of March 2018, reported Fox News.

The helicopter was carrying 6 people allegedly engaged in a photo shoot when it went down at around 7 pm on Sunday night.

According to authorities, two people were killed outright, and three more were taken to hospital in a critical condition.

NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill declared at a news conference that the pilot had managed to free himself and reach safety on a raft, and that NYC rescuers had pulled three other people from the East River and rushed them to nearby City hospitals.

"We noticed a red helicopter going full speed towards the water. It almost looked very surreal and next thing we know it's approaching the water slowly and then it just completely crashed and then sunk."

Arineh Nazarian, Fox News, 11th of March 2018.

New York's Bellevue Hospital received two victims who were registering no heartbeat and were not expected to survive. A third victim was rushed to NYU Langone Hospital in critical condition.

The crash victims were said to be participating in a Liberty Helicopters tour, aboard a private Eurocopter AS350 hired for a photo shoot.

At the time of the crash, water temperatures in the East River registered below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

The causes of the crash are as yet unknown, and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are already investigating the incident.

FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro reported the rescue of the five people who were harnessed into the submerged helicopter.

One witness who saw the crash through her apartment windows confessed that she thought it unlikely that anyone could survive.

News updates are coming in, pending official reports on the victims' condition, and on the possible causes of the helicopter crash.