UPDATED 6/10/19 4:25 p.m. ET:Â
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio confirmed during a press conference that the crash was not an act of terror. "There is no indication at this time that this was an act of terror," he explained. "There is no ongoing threat to New York City based on all the information we have right now."Â
"What we do know is that one person died in this helicopter crash," he said, assuring that a full investigation is being conducted. "That person is presumed to be the pilot, but we are still waiting for absolute confirmation of that fact. There does not appear to be any passenger in the helicopter, but again we're waiting for absolute confirmation of that fact. We do not know the cause of this incident."Â
See original story below.Â
Per the New York City Fire Department, a helicopter crashed into a building in midtown Manhattan Monday afternoon.
The helicopter crash-landed on the roof of 787 7th Avenue, between the streets of 51st and 52nd. An emergency notification was sent out by city officials warning of impending road closures and a heightened presence of emergency teams in the region. In a tweeted statement, the New York City Police Department also urged residents to avoid the area near the crash, which is believed to have occurred on the roof of the high-rise building.
In an updated statement, a NYPD rep characterized the crash as a "hard landing," adding that the subsequent flames had now been extinguished. Sources originally told NBC and other outlerts that one injury had been reported. Per FDNY, however, there was actually one fatality: the pilot. At the time of this writing, the pilot had not been publicly identified by investigating authorities. The FAA said Monday they were "gathering information" on the incident.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo promptly addressed the incident when speaking with reporters, noting that this is likely caused by an attempted emergency landing and nothing more.
"The only indication was a helicopter had to do an emergency or a hard landing, or crashed onto the rooftop of the building, causing a fire," he said. "But there's no indication of anything more than that."
While details remain scarce at the time of this writing, those near the scene of the incident have shared images and video from the ensuing confusion:
This story may be updated as new information becomes available.
