NEW YORK CITY, NY(NewsLink) - At least one person is dead after a helicopter crashed on the roof of a building in Manhattan on Monday, according to NYPD.
“Preliminary information is that there was a helicopter that made a forced landing, emergency landing, or landed on the roof of the building for one reaso or another,” according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo. After the crash, a fire ensued. Cuomo said people in the building felt the building shake.
FDNY reported that a helicopter crash-landed on the building around 3 P.M. “The fire has been extinguished, and members continue to operate in response to fuel leaking from the helicopter, FDNY said.
FDNY said firefighters were making their way to the top of the 51-floor building and evacuations continued.
Myles Miller, spokesman for FDNY, said the pilot is dead.
At the time of the incident, moderate to heavy rain was falling in the city and visibility was down to 1.25 miles. Winds were traveling at 9 mph.
Nathan Hutton, an IT worker in the building, told reporters about the chaos in the building.
“It took a half hour to get from the 29th floor down to the ground floor. There were just too many people, it was too crowded, and everybody was trying to get off on all the floors at the same time… You could feel the building shake, and you could actually hear the alarms.”
Cuomo said the crash reminded him of the events of September 11, 2001.
“If you’re a New Yorker, you have a lot of PTSD from 9/11. And I remember that morning all too well. So as soon as you hear an aircraft hit a building, my mind goes where every New Yorker’s mind goes.”
