Helicopter Crash New York: One Passenger Pronounced Dead

A helicopter crash in New York City's East River has claimed one life.

Four passengers were rescued immeidately after the crash, but a fifth female victim who had been missing at the crash site for over an hour was pulled from the East River and pronounced dead, multiple news outlets have reported.

The breaking report of the victim recovery came only a few minutes after a source familiar with the rescue effort told CBS that it was unlikely the missing passenger would be found alive.

NBC is reporting that the helicopter was carrying four tourists from England along with the pilot. Initial reports said the crash took place at 3:22 p.m. Tuesday.

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne told NBC News that the helicopter had just taken off from the 34th Street heliport and was attempting to return to the heliport when it crashed in the river.

The helicopter does not have floating devices installed, and sunk immediately and rapidly.

An earlier CBS report said that two female passengers had been taken to NYC's Bellevue Hospital in cardiac arrest, and a male passenger -- possibly the pilot -- was taken to NYU. IBTimes is working to verify if these reports are still current.

The pilot was identifed as Paul Dudley, ABC News reported.

Watch live updates from CBS by clicking on this link.