Two rattled tourists next in line behind the Spanish family who died in the doomed Hudson River helicopter flight chillingly told The Post on Friday, “It could have been us.”
Dutch couple Melissa Maertem, 23, and her fiancée Melissa Bos, 24, recounted watching the five members of the tragic Escobar family excitedly pose for photos on the helipad at Downtown Skyport before taking off for what was supposed to be a ride of a lifetime.
The family — Siemens executive Agustin Escobar, his wife, Mercè Camprubí Montal, and their three young children — then hopped on the New York Helicopters Tours craft, leaving Bos and Maertem to wait for their own flight with a different company.
A commotion soon broke out, and heliport workers eventually told the couple there was an “accident.
“We were set and ready,” Maertem said. “It’s really hard to get it all in. When we heard [about the crash] we got all chills.
“It could have been us,” Bos said.
The couple learned more details about the crash — including that the family of five and pilot were all dead — when they returned to their hotel room.
“When we got back to the hotel, we saw it on TV, and we saw the helicopter, and the picture of the family this morning — like wow, that’s the one we saw,” Bos said.
Bos and Maertem originally thought they’d reschedule their sightseeing trip but reconsidered after their brush with death sank in.
“We’re too afraid, so we’re trying to get our money back right now,” Maertem said.
All flights from the skyport were canceled after the horrifying crash — but at least some other would-be sightseers said they’d still fly if given the chance.
Swiss tourist Petra Hermann was among several groups of travelers who trekked to the heliport Friday morning, only to find their previously booked flights were grounded without notice from helicopter tour companies.
Hermann told The Post she had still planned to fly with her partner, two teenage sons and their grandfather to celebrate the patriarch’s 80th birthday.
“We’re a little bit worried, but nevertheless we think it doesn’t happen twice within a few hours,” she said. “That’s why I think we should be fine.
“That’s why we hope they are checking much better than yesterday, so they really make sure that the helicopter is safe. I think they can’t risk another accident and dead people.”
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