The grieving family of the helicopter crash victims in New York on Thursday shared a heartbreaking tribute amid speculation over the cause of the crash.

It comes as aviation expert Julian Bray suggested that a faulty ‘Jesus nut’ – which holds the entire rotor system together – could have been behind the tragedy.

Agustín Escobar, the president of the Spanish branch of Siemens, and his family had only arrived in the city earlier in the day on Thursday before the fatal crash that very afternoon.

Escobar, his wife, Merce Camprubi Montal, and their children, aged four, five, and 11 years old, were all killed alongside the pilot, aged 36.

The faulty ‘Jesus nut’ would have caused the helicopter blades to break free from the rotor while still in motion, according to Bray.

As it detached, the spinning blades would then have ripped through the body of the chopper before it crashed into the water below, Bray told The Sun.