Transcript: Mayor Adams Addresses Media With Spanish Consul General de Blas Mayordomo and Family Member of Five Victims of Hudson River Helicopter Crash

April 12, 2025

Watch video here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2E4F5UwOnFU

Mayor Eric Adams: Today, as he deals with this awful tragedy, losing his sister, her husband, and [their] children as well. We just dropped flowers today as a symbolic gesture for the loss of life. What should have been a joyful vacation turned into an unimaginable tragedy.

We mourn the loss of Agustín, Mercè, and their three beautiful children, Víctor, Mercedes, and Agustín. Our hearts are broken. On behalf of 8.5 million New Yorkers, I want to say to the family members and to the wider Spanish community that we are here with you, and this symbolic gesture is our way of knowing and acknowledging that our words cannot bring back their family members, but it is our way of saying as New Yorkers, we stand united with this family during this moment of grief, and their grief is our grief. Their sorrow is our sorrow.

New York City is a family, and we consider this is a loss of our family members with unspeakable pain and suffering. We also want to acknowledge, and we dropped flowers for Sean Johnson, the pilot. He was a Navy SEAL. He fought to defend this country, and we want to acknowledge him and his wife, Kathryn, for her loss, and our prayers are with all of the family members involved, and no words can fill the void, the loss. We know that.

We can cooperate and collaborate together to ensure that this family and the families involved and loved ones receive the support from the city. We want to thank the NYPD, the FDNY, our partners in New Jersey who collaborated with us to make sure that the bodies were retrieved to bring some level of closure to the families, and I want to be clear. Everyone should respect the family's desire to mourn in peace and to address and deal with the situation that they're facing. 

Lastly, I want to again express my gratitude to the rescuers for what they have done. May God bless the victims during this tragedy and may God bless the families. I want to turn it over to the brother, Joan, to speak at this time.

Joan Camprubí Montal: Good afternoon, everyone. This is a really difficult situation, but we are overwhelmed with the massive condolences we received, and this is probably because the Escobar-Camprubí family was a really loved family, so thank you for that, to all of you. 

Second, I want to understand that they left together, they left without suffering, and they left with a smile on their faces, and that's important for us. As a family, we want to remind and honor their happiness and their smile forever, and you can imagine we are trying to assimilate all the situation.

We want to move the bodies as soon as possible home, back home with all the family to rest in peace together in our place, but also we want to thank all the institutional support that we received, starting from Spain, from also Catalonia, from [the] U.S., New York, New Jersey. Everybody has been supporting us, and especially also Siemens, as [the] company where Mercè and Agustin were working, has supported also a lot during this process.

And taking advantage that there is also Spanish media, I want to say that…

[Agus,] Mercè, [Agus Jr.], [Merce Jr.], Víctor, siempre estaréis con nosotros y en nuestros corazones [Speaks in Catalan]. Nunca os olvidaremos y vamos a mantener vuestra sonrisa viva cada día en nuestras vidas, y eso creo que es el mejor legado que os podemos dar. Gracias.

Translation: [Agus,] Mercè, [Agus Jr.], [Merce Jr.], Víctor, you will always be with us and in our hearts. [Speaks in Catalan.] We will never forget and we will keep your smile alive every day in our lives, and I think that is the best legacy we can give you. Thank you.

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