Seven Pulled From East River

A sightseeing helicopter went down in New York City Tuesday, plunging into the East River -- but remarkably close to a squadron of police boats conducting drills. All seven people aboard were rescued, according to authorities.

Of the seven people on board -- a pilot and six passengers -- one was critically hurt, according to a Coast Guard spokesman. No names have yet been released. The sightseers were from Australia and France, police said.

"They seemed in decent shape but were taken to hospital as a precaution," police spokesman Sergeant Walter Burnes told reporters on the scene.

The Bell Jet Ranger remained afloat, though inverted, after it went down in the river. It was towed to shore by a police boat, authorities said.

There was no immediate official word on what may have caused the accident, shortly after the aircraft took off from lower Manhattan. But the associate medical director at New York University Downtown Medical Center, Dr. Antonio Dajer, told CNN, "It clipped something that damaged the rotor and immediately the pilot lost control and pitched into the water."

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