DIVERS RECOVER 5TH CRASH VICTIM FROM HUDSON
CBC News
08/10/09 8:40AM
Police divers have recovered the body of a fifth victim from the
fuselage of a tourist helicopter in the Hudson River mid-air collision.
New York City and New Jersey divers earlier recovered a single body
and the piece of fuselage Sunday morning, after finding three bodies
on the day of the accident Saturday, police said.
All nine people aboard both aircraft – three in the private plane
and six in the helicopter – are presumed dead.
Two law enforcement officials identified the plane’s pilot as Steven
Altman, 60, of Ambler, Pa., Also in the plane were the pilot’s brother,
Daniel Altman, 49, of Dresher, Pa., and Daniel’s 16-year-old son,
Douglas.
The five tourists on the helicopter were from the Bologna, Italy,
area. Italian media identified them as Fabio Gallazzi, 49, his wife
Tiziana Pedrone, and their son, Giacomo Gallazzi, 16, together with
Michele Norelli, 52, and his son, Filippo Norelli, 17.
The helicopter pilot has been identified as Jeremy Clark of Lanoka
Harbor, N.J.
Anniversary celebration turns to disaster Michele Norelli and his
wife, Silvia Rigamonti, were in New York for a weeklong vacation
to celebrate 25 years of marriage. Their other son, Davide Norelli,
stayed behind in Italy. He told the New York Times his mother decided
not to take the helicopter ride because "she was afraid."
"The trip was a gift from one of Norelli’s sisters to mark the 25th
anniversary of his marriage," Giovanni Leporati, a friend of the
family, told The Associated Press on Sunday.
"The anniversary already happened but they took advantage of the
August holidays and went," he said.
Two other Italian tourists, a 42-year-old woman from Rome and her
13-year-son, had planned to take part in the same helicopter ride
but arrived last and missed the flight.
Officials said the plane’s right wing clipped the back of the
helicopter as the two aircraft were flying in the same direction. Both
aircraft split apart and fell into the river about 100 metres from
the shore of Hoboken, N.J.
The Piper Saratoga aircraft had just taken off from nearby Teterboro,
N.J., airport and was heading south over the river to Ocean City,
N.J. The helicopter, operated by Liberty Helicopter Tours, had just
taken off from a heliport in Manhattan.
Troubles in the Air
Authorities move to the scene of an accident Saturday, Aug. 8, 2009,
in New York. The Coast Guard says a small plane has collided with a
helicopter over the Hudson River. Witnesses say the accident happened
just after noon between Manhattan and Hoboken, N.J. Both aircraft
crashed into the water.
AP Photo/Pat Bradshaw Forca Aerea Brasileira / LatinContent / Getty
Images Troubles in the Air Authorities move to the scene of an accident
Saturday, Aug. 8, 2009, in New York. The Coast Guard says a small plane
has collided with a helicopter over the Hudson River. Witnesses say
the accident happened just after noon between Manhattan and Hoboken,
N.J. Both aircraft crashed into the water.
AP Photo/Pat Bradshaw This undated photo provided by Jason Peregrine,
shows Capt. Marvin Renslow of Lutz, Fla. Renslow was piloting
Continental Connection Flight 3407, bound from Newark, N.J., Thursday
night Feb. 12, 2009, when it went down in light snow and mist and
crashed into a house below. All 49 people aboard and one person on
the ground were killed.
AP Photo/Jason Peregrine A Bangkok Airways plane is seen after it
skidded off the runway while attempting to land during heavy rains
on Samui island, Surat Thani province in southern Thailand Tuesday,
Aug. 4, 2009. The domestic airliner crashed into an old air traffic
control tower after landing Tuesday, killing the pilot, a government
official said.
AP Photo In this photo released by the semi-official Iranian Students
News Agency (ISNA), a rescue worker hoses water at the scene of
a plane crash near the village of Jannatabad, outside the city of
Qazvin, around 75 miles northwest of Tehran in Iran, Wednesday, July
15, 2009. An Iranian passenger plane carrying 168 people crashed a
quarter-hour after takeoff Wednesday, smashing into a field northwest
of the capital and shattering to pieces, with State television saying
all on board were killed.
AP Photo/ISNA, Sina Shiri In this photo released by the semi-official
Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), an unidentified man observes
the scene of a plane crash near the village of Jannatabad, outside
the city of Qazvin, around 75 miles northwest of Tehran in Iran,
Wednesday, July 15, 2009. An Iranian passenger plane carrying 168
people crashed a quarter-hour after takeoff Wednesday, smashing into
a field northwest of the capital and shattering to pieces, with State
television saying all on board were killed.
AP Photo/ISNA, Sina Shiri In this photo released by the semi-official
Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), people gather at the scene of
a plane crash near the village of Jannatabad, outside the city of
Qazvin, around 75 miles northwest of Tehran in Iran, Wednesday, July
15, 2009. An Iranian passenger plane carrying 168 people crashed a
quarter-hour after takeoff Wednesday, smashing into a field northwest
of the capital and shattering to pieces, with State television saying
all on board were killed.
AP Photo/ISNA, Sina Shiri A woman related to a victim of crashed
Iranian passenger plane is helped at Yerevan’s airport, in Armenia,
Wednesday, July 15, 2009. A Russian-made Iranian passenger plane
carrying 168 people crashed shortly after takeoff Wednesday, smashing
into a field northwest of the capital and shattering into flaming
pieces. All on board were killed in Iran’s worst air disaster in six
years, officials said.
AP Photo/Photolure, Tigran Tadevosyan In this photo released by the
semi-official Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), relatives of victims
of Wednesday’s plane crash wait for bodies of their loved ones at
the Behesht-e-Fatemeh cemetery just outside the city of Qazvin near
75 miles northwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Thursday, July 16,
2009. Investigators have recovered two of the three black boxes
belonging to a Russian-made jetliner that crashed shortly after
taking off from Tehran, Iran’s state radio reported Thursday. All
168 people aboard the Caspian Airlines aircraft bound for Yerevan,
Armenia, on Wednesday were killed.
AP Photo/ISNA,Sina Shiri In this photo released by the semi-official
Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), people walk at the scene of
a plane crash near the village of Jannatabad, outside the city of
Qazvin, around 75 miles northwest of Tehran in Iran, Wednesday, July
15, 2009. An Iranian passenger plane carrying 168 people crashed a
quarter-hour after takeoff Wednesday, smashing into a field northwest
of the capital and shattering to pieces, with State television saying
all on board were killed.
AP Photo/ISNA, Sina Shiri In this photo released by the semi-official
Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), a rescue worker attends to
the scene of a plane crash near the village of Jannatabad, outside
the city of Qazvin, around 75 miles northwest of Tehran in Iran,
Wednesday, July 15, 2009. An Iranian passenger plane carrying 168
people crashed a quarter-hour after takeoff Wednesday, smashing into
a field northwest of the capital and shattering to pieces, with State
television saying all on board were killed.
AP Photo/ISNA, Sina Shiri Divers have been troubled by low visibility
in their search for victims.
With files from The Associated Press