Police continued to scour the murky, fast-flowing Hudson more than 24 hours after a light Piper plane and a helicopter carrying Italian tourists smashed into each other.

Three bodies were found soon after the accident Saturday and Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a news conference that two more were found Sunday.

Meanwhile, local NY1 television showed emergency services pulling out the mangled helicopter and using a crane to put it aboard a barge.

Police using sonar equipment had also located the remains, or at least part of the remains of the submerged plane, spokesman Paul Browne said.

The collision happened Saturday at midday in full view of tourists and locals enjoying a fine summer day along the Manhattan and New Jersey riverfronts.

Five Italian tourists and a pilot were aboard the helicopter, while the plane was carrying a pilot and two passengers, including a child.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which sent a team to New York on Saturday, was investigating the cause of the crash.

Witnesses described the two aircraft plummeting into the river.

Images broadcast by Fox News television showed the aircraft right after impact, with the plane missing its right wing and the helicopter disintegrating.

It was the first fatal crash in New York since October 11, 2006, when two people died after flying a light plane into a skyscraper on Manhattan.

In January an Airbus jet operated by US Airways lost power shortly after take-off and crash landed in the Hudson without loss of life.

AFP