Couple Next in Line After Family of 5 Dies in Hudson River Helicopter Crash Speaks Out

• Melissa Maertem, 23, a tourist from the Netherlands, told the New York Daily News that she and her partner were waiting in line at the New York City heliport behind the Spanish family of five, who boarded the helicopter that crashed into the Hudson
• “It could have been us,” Maertem said. “We saw the helicopter take off, and when you think back, like, ‘Oh, that’s the helicopter we saw’ “
• The cause of the crash, which also killed the pilot, remains under investigation, according to the NTSB

A couple visiting New York City from the Netherlands said they waited in line to board the doomed helicopter that crashed into the Hudson River on Thursday, April 10. All six people on board were killed.

“We saw pictures … of the family and [realized] ‘wow … that’s the one we saw [at the heliport],” Melissa Maertem, 23, told the New York Daily News, having watched news footage of the crash after returning to their hotel. “It’s really, really hard.”

Maertem and her partner Mellissa Bos, 24, said they were standing in line behind Agustín Escobar, his wife Merce Camprubi Montal, and their three children who eventually boarded the chopper.

The family of five from Spain were killed along with the pilot, later identified as Sean Johnson, in the crash, which happened around 3:15 p.m. local time, according to the New York City Police Department. The Hoboken Fire Department confirmed the crash took place in Jersey City.

Witnesses have said they saw the helicopter “falling apart” in midair.

Maertem told the Daily News that she and Bos were initially excited when they booked their New York City helicopter ride six months ago.

She told the newspaper that when they arrived at the heliport early around 4:45 p.m., for their aerial tour, she noticed the heliport employees were pacing and appeared nervous.

After 15 minutes, the couple were told that the flights were canceled for the rest of the day.

“We’re asking, like, what’s happening. And then they said, ‘Something happened,’ ” Maertem told the Daily News. “ ‘There’s been an accident, and we can’t take the flights anymore.’ So I was asking, like, ‘Are they okay?’ And they told me, one is not. But we heard later, all six of them [had died].”

Maertem and Bos opted for a refund on their chopper trip instead of rescheduling for a future flight, saying they were scared after what happened.

The helicopter was operated by tour company New York Helicopters. Its CEO, Michael Roth, said that the pilot radioed base to say they were returning to the helipad to get more fuel shortly before the crash, per The Telegraph.

“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 told the U.K. outlet.

The CEO also said, per The Telegraph, “We’re all devastated. Every employee in our company is devastated. My wife has not stopped crying.”

PEOPLE contacted New York Helicopters for additional information on Friday, April 11.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

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Maertem told the Daily News that she and Bos will continue with their New York City trip, but it will be hard following the crash.

“It could have been us,” she said. “We saw the helicopter take off, and when you think back, like, ‘Oh, that’s the helicopter we saw.’ It’s really, really hard to understand.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to remove a 2019 photo that was incorrectly included in this article about the April 10 crash.