Five bodies recovered after midair crash

Crews lifted the wreckage of a helicopter from the murky Hudson River today as police using sonar located the submerged small plane that had collided with it.

Nine people died in the midair crash, and five bodies have been pulled from the water.

Investigators were also searching for pictures and video of yesterday’s accident, which was seen by thousands out enjoying a beautiful summer day.

Nine people – three members of a Pennsylvania family in the private plane, five Italian tourists and a pilot from New Jersey in the Liberty Tours helicopter - died in the collision.

One of the Italian victims was a husband celebrating his 25th wedding anniversary, a family friend said. His wife had stayed behind, but their 16-year-old son was also in the helicopter.

This morning, divers recovered a torso stuffed in the fuselage of the helicopter wreckage.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said a fifth body was also recovered Sunday.

A US Army Corps of Engineers crane pulled up the twisted wreckage of the helicopter from 30ft of water.

New York City police said a sonar scanner found the small plane wreckage just north of the helicopter crash site in the water off of Hoboken. More plane wreckage was found farther out in the river.

National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Debbie Hersman said a nearby helicopter pilot saw the plane approaching the in-flight helicopter and tried to alert his fellow pilot. He radioed the doomed helicopter and said: “You have a fixed-wing behind you,” but there was no response from the pilot, Hersman said.

The pilot then saw the plane’s right wing clip the helicopter, and both aircraft split apart and fell into the river, she said.

The two aircraft went down just south of the stretch of river where a US Airways jet landed safely seven months ago. But this accident was, in Bloomberg’s words, “unsurvivable”.

Jeremy Clarke, of New Jersey was piloting the helicopter, for Liberty Helicopters.

The plane’s pilot was 60-year-old Steven Altman, of Pennsylvania. Also in the plane were 49-year-old Daniel Altman, of Pennsylvania, and his 16-year-old son, Douglas, the officials said.

The five tourists were from Bologna, Italy, area. Officials identified them as Michele Norelli, 51; his son Filippo Norelli, 16; their friends Fabio Gallazzi, 49; his wife, Tiziana Pedroni, 44; and their son Giacomo Gallazzi, 15.

“The trip was a gift from one of Norelli’s sisters to mark the 25th anniversary of his marriage,” said Giovanni Leporati, a friend of the Norelli family. “The anniversary already happened but they took advantage of the August holidays and went.”

The Italian group planned to travel from New York to Florida and then to Cancun, Mexico, but they have now decided to return home to Italy.