Patrick S. Keeley / AP Photo
A small plane with a family on board and a helicopter, carrying Italian tourists, crashed yesterday over the Hudson River, killing nine people. Silvia Rigamonti was on her first visit to New York to celebrate her 25th wedding anniversary with her husaband, teenage son, and three friends. They booked the flight over the Hudson before leaving Italy, but Rigamonti ended up staying on land while her family went on the flight, since she became too scared to go up. Her older son told the New York Daily News that she might have watched the crash from the ground. Wreckage from the collision landed as far as New Jersey. Witnesses said there was a very loud bang and saw the destroyed helicopter and plane splash into the river within seconds. Divers searching the water found one aircraft by mid-afternoon, and seven bodies have been located. A third pilot had tried to warn the helicopter of the impending danger but received no response. The National Transportation Safety Board is sending a group to New York to investigate.