Six persons lost their lives in a helicopter crash on Thursday, including Agustin Escobar, a senior Spanish executive at Siemens, a technology business. When their helicopter fell into the Hudson River, his wife, Merce Camprubi Montal, and their three children, ages four, five, and eleven, also perished. According to reports, the family from Barcelona was in New York City for a sightseeing excursion.
The identity of the pilot, who also perished in the collision, is still unknown.
Around 3:15 p.m., the New York City Fire Department was called to report that a Bell 306 helicopter had crashed into the Manhattan River. Mayor Eric Adams verified the deaths of all six passengers a few hours later.
Who was Agustin Escobar?
- The head of Siemens’ Spanish division was Agustin Escobar.
- He attended Universidad Pontificia Comillas to study Electrical Industrial Engineering. He earned an MBA from Universidad de Alcala in 2002. According to his LinkedIn profile, he also completed an Executive MBA in Business Administration at IE Business School in 2005.
- For over 27 years, Mr. Escobar was employed at Siemens. In 1998, he began working for the company as the Head of Project Management and Sales for Power Automation Systems in Spain. He headed many business divisions and assumed larger responsibilities over the years, earning numerous Siemens Country Awards in the process. Additionally, he worked on infrastructure initiatives for electric vehicles throughout Southwest Europe.
- He relocated to New York City in 2010 to manage North American international business growth. He then worked in Bogota, Colombia, where he oversaw three factories and more than 1,300 workers. His division was recognized as Siemens’ top-performing company globally in 2016.
- In 2018, Mr. Escobar returned to Spain to take the helm of Siemens Rail Automation SAU and Siemens Mobility SLU, where he oversaw large rail projects involving more than 1,000 workers. He also served as the CEO of Siemens Mobility for the Southwest Europe Region from 2019 to 2024, which included more than 3,000 employees and covered Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, and portions of Africa.
