THE tragic first picture of the birthday girl who died in the Hudson River helicopter crash alongside her family has been released.
Dad Agustin Escobar, his wife Merce Camprubi Montal and their three children – aged four to 11 – all died along with the pilot on Thursday afternoon.
The little girl was captured with a beaming smile on her face as she sat in the helicopter next to the pilot only 16 minutes before takeoff.
An eight-year-old girl was about to celebrate her ninth birthday with a helicopter ride, but tragedy struck. The family had arranged the chopper tour to mark the occasion, as reported by Catalan radio station RAC1.
A heartbreaking set of final pictures also showed the whole family posing on the doomed New York aircraft moments before their tragic deaths.
Heartbreaking images, found on the New York Helicopter Tours website, capture the family happily posing next to the ill-fated Bell 206L-4 LongRanger IV helicopter.
They were all seen strapped inside the aircraft preparing for a luxury sightseeing tour over Manhattan.
But tragedy struck around 3.15 pm, when the helicopter reportedly broke apart midair and dropped into the Hudson, killing four people on impact.
Two others were later pronounced dead at the hospital.
A harrowing warning was made by the pilot just moments before the terrifying crash.
Michael Roth, the owner of the helicopter, told The Telegraph: “He [the pilot] called in that he was landing and that he needed fuel.
“It should have taken him about three minutes to arrive, but 20 minutes later, he didn’t arrive.”
The chopper was later captured on video completely upside down in the Hudson River as New York Police Department boats rushed to the wreckage.
Shaken witnesses who saw the crash unfold described hearing what sounded like a gunshot as the helicopter started to plummet towards the water.
Dani Horbiak said she was at her home in Jersey City when a noise that sounded like “several gunshots in a row, almost, in the air” rang out.
The cause of the horror plunge is yet to be confirmed.
An aviation expert told The Sun it may have been caused by a single missing or faulty bolt onboard commonly known as the “Jesus nut”.
Julian Bray suggested the critical component, which holds the rotor system in place, may have failed mid-flight and led to the six deaths.
An investigator highlighted the possibility of a missing or defective nut that could have led to the helicopter’s rotor blades detaching mid-flight, causing the aircraft to crash into the water below.
What is a ‘Jesus nut’?
IN helicopter engineering, the “Jesus nut
If this nut fails mid-flight, the rotor can detach, leading to catastrophic consequences.
The term is believed to have originated during the Vietnam War, reflecting the dire situation a crew would face if the nut failed: their only recourse would be to “pray to Jesus.”
The Jesus nut is meticulously inspected before every flight, and failures are exceedingly rare.
However, its importance cannot be overstated; it’s a single point of failure that holds the entire rotor system in place.
In broader engineering contexts, “Jesus nut” has come to describe any component whose failure would result in the total collapse of a system.
The Spanish family had landed in New York just hours earlier, having flown in from Barcelona to kick off their vacation.
Escobar, a 25-year veteran of the international tech and mobility scene, had held top positions across the globe — including Spain, South America, and the U.S.
Most recently, he was appointed Global CEO of Rail Infrastructure at Siemens Mobility in October.
His wife, Merce Camprubi Montal, also had an impressive career.
She worked as a global commercialization manager at Siemens Energy in Barcelona for seven years, according to her LinkedIn profile.
The Spanish mum was reportedly related to two former Barcelona FC presidents, including one who brought Johan Cruyff to the club.
Montal was the great-granddaughter of Augusti Montal Galobart, Barcelona’s president from 1946 to 1952, and the granddaughter of Augusti Montal Costa, who was in charge of the Catalan club from 1969 to 1977.
