NYPD scuba team speaks out about recovery of helicopter parts after deadly crash
NEW YORK (WABC) -- The NYPD Harbor Unit's elite scuba team that worked to recover the helicopter that crashed in the Hudson River last week spoke out on Wednesday for the first time about their efforts in the investigation.
They searched desperately but deliberately in zero visibility for survivors in the swift currents of the murky Hudson River.
"We were the first divers on scene, actual divers in full scuba gear, so we were the first ones there that were able to get to the helicopter," said Ofc. Anthony Melidones.
Melidones and his partner Joseph Frevola were the first to reach the victims.
"You know, basically, we're pulling up and once the pilot's given us the go, we're in the water," Frevola said.
All six victims would be pulled to the surface. None would survive -- including the 36 year-old pilot and two technology executives from Spain and their three young children: ages 4, 8 and 10.
"It's not something that you get over very quickly," Frevola said.
"And there's only so much you could do, even as being as well-trained as we are created, especially as a unit, as we all have," Melidones said. "You know, we're very small percentages of people on this job that can, in fact do something like this. They just did the best you could and trained the situations is only so much you could do, unfortunately."
For the next four days, the team used underwater cameras with searchlights-and handheld sonar units to search the riverbottom for wreckage. And on Monday-after 29 dives-they found the chopper's rotor system-which will likely hold the answer as to why the aircraft broke into pieces and tumbled from the sky.
"If it's in the water, we're going to find it and there's no reason why we're not going to find it, it's on the bottom," said Det. Dennis Eddy. "It's just a matter of, like I say, the time that we put in and the effort that we put in."
The NTSB said the helicopter wasn't equipped with any flight records.
The NYPD's scuba team is one of the most highly trained scuba teams in the world, covering 146 miles of water and 576 miles of waterfront.
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