Eight rescued from seaplane that made ‘hard landing’ in Manhattan river

At least eight people were rescued from a seaplane that landed in New York City’s East River, authorities say.

New York fire officials responded to reports of an aircraft down at around midday local time (16:00 GMT) off the marina at East 23rd Street and FDR Drive in Manhattan. The seaplane was upright and towed back to the dock, fire officials say.

Eight people were removed from the Kodiak 100 seaplane by fire department units and two had minor injures and refused medical attention.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which will investigate the incident, said the pilot “made a hard landing”, causing a wing strut to snap.

In a hard landing, a plane touches down with excessive vertical speed or force, exceeding the manufacturer limit.

The FAA said on social media that air traffic control “was not providing services to the aircraft” at the time of the incident.

The New York Times reported that the plane was coming from the Hamptons – a seaside retreat for affluent New Yorkers – and was heading to a seaplane base when it struck a wave while landing, leading to it partially capsizing.

Another seaplane was damaged in the East River three weeks ago. That aircraft, a small two-seater, was struck by a large wave as it tried to take off from the river on 13 June.

During that earlier incident, the FDNY took a pilot and one passenger on to a boat after the plane went down near Queens, CBS News reported.

By BBC News