The pilot of the helicopter that plummeted into the Hudson River in New York, killing all six on board, reportedly told the base that he "needed fuel" moments before the crash. The chopper hit the water at around 3.15pm ET on Thursday (April 10), close to Jersey City, killing a family of tourists and the pilot.

The family of five, which arrived from Barcelona earlier on Thursday, consisted of parents Agustín Escobar and Merce Camprubi Montal and their three young children. They are said to have been travelling on a sightseeing trip. Emergency services were called to the crash site less than 20 minutes after the aircraft set off from a downtown Manhattan Skyport.

The helicopter's owner, Michael Roth, 71, told The Telegraph that the pilot—yet to be identified—had radioed the base to say the group was returning to the helipad but never made it.

"He [the pilot] called in that he was landing and that he needed fuel, and it should have taken him about three minutes to arrive, but 20 minutes later, he didn’t arrive," Roth said.

"We’re all devastated. Every employee in our company is devastated. My wife has not stopped crying," he added. "I got a call from my manager and my downtown heliport and she said she heard there was a crash, and then my phone blew up from everybody. The death of the child of any human being, is a monumental disaster."

He told the Wall Street Journal that he has "no clue" how the tragedy occurred.

"The only thing I know by watching a video of the helicopter falling down, that the main rotor blades weren’t on the helicopter," Roth said, adding that he has not seen anything like this happen in his three decades in the business.

NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a news briefing that the aircraft - a Bell 206L-4 LongRanger IV helicopter, registered with the Federal Aviation Administration as N216MH - "lost control and hit the water".