NEW YORK, June 18: Eight people were rescued from drowning in New York’s East River after a helicopter carrying executives of a financial services company went down near the United Nations on Friday afternoon. It was the second helicopter crash in a week at the same spot.

One of the pilots was hospitalized in critical condition. The seven others were released from hospital on Friday night.

In the previous crash on Tuesday, six passengers were injured in a similar accident.

The UN employees witnessed the aftermath of the crash from the building as emergency services scrambled to rescue the passengers.

The Sikorsky S-76 went down seconds after taking off from the heliport near the United Nations. The chopper had made it barely one block north before it suddenly tumbled tail-first into the water.

Witnesses said the helicopter appeared to take off normally before something went wrong. Once it hit the water, people spotted men in business suits screaming “Help’ as they bobbed in the river.

Three of the victims had been swept by the current more than a dozen blocks south before they were rescued, presumably by a private vessel.