A helicopter crashed this evening on a building on Fifth Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenue in midtown Manhattan, New York, for a reason that has not yet been clarified.
According to local media reports at least one person was killed in an incident whose investigation has already begun. Firefighting services announced that the dead man is the helicopter pilot.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said "a helicopter made an emergency landing on the roof of a building for one reason or another, and there was a fire that broke out as people in the building said they felt it shaking."
"Firefighters believe the fire is under control; there may have been casualties, we don't know how many people were on the helicopter," Cuomo added.
Cuomo also said: "As soon as you hear an aircraft hit a building, I think my mind goes where every New Yorker's goes, but there's no indication that that is the case."
Initial reports say that the helicopter was flying tourists to patrol the city and crashed on the 54-story building. The New York Police said the pilot lost contact with the control tower in the area a minute or two before the crash.
According to the New York Police Department, there is no suspicion that this was a terrorist incident.
A White House official confirmed that the US President had received a report on the helicopter crash in midtown Manhattan "The President has received a report of the crash and is following the situation," the source said.
