The US Coast Guard says a tour helicopter and a small plane collided in midair and plunged into the Hudson River close to lower Manhattan.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the helicopter, operated by Liberty Helicopters, was carrying a party of Italian tourists and nine people are suspected to have died. Mayor Bloomberg says there was no hope of finding any survivors.

Search and rescue teams, assisted by police divers are searching the river for wreckage and bodies. Two bodies have been recovered so far. Weather conditions at the time of the collision were good. The cause of the accident is not yet known.