A tragic helicopter crash in the Hudson River claimed the lives of a Spanish family and their pilot, leaving witnesses, including tourists from the Netherlands, shocked and shaken. Melissa Maertem and her partner, who were in line for the same flight, recounted feeling a mix of excitement and horror, as they realized the family ahead of them had perished. The women described the scene at the heliport as chaotic, with staff exhibiting signs of distress before announcing the cancellation of flights. The stark contrast between the family’s joyful anticipation and the tragedy left the tourists grappling with the unforeseen danger of such excursions.
"We are really shocked. I was shaking," said Melissa Maertem, 23, who is visiting Manhattan from the Netherlands with her partner, Melissa Bos, 24. "It could have been us."
"They were really happy. They were going on a helicopter flight," Maertem said, echoing the excitement of the family moments before their tragic accident.
"We're asking, like, what's happening. And then they said, 'Something happened,'" Maertem recalled, recounting the tension at the heliport after the accident.
"We saw pictures ... of the family later. It's really, really hard to understand," Maertem added, reflecting on the stark contrast between the family's joy and the tragedy.
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