
A video has emerged showing a group of Argentinian friends laughing and cycling in Manhattan shortly before the truck terror attack that killed five of them.

The five who died were in a group of ten friends from Argentina on vacation in New York to celebrate their high school reunion, before they perished in the terror attack Wednesday.

A sixth member of the group, Martín Ludovico Marro, remains hospitalized in intensive care and is expected to survive, but has not yet learned the heartbreaking news that five of his close friends perished.

The dead Argentinians, who were among eight who died in the attack, have been identified as Ariel Erlij, Hernán Mendoza, Diego Angelini, Alejandro Pagnucco and Hernán Ferruchi. All were 47, except for Erlij, who was 48.

'They came here like millions of other visitors to see the sights, and see the greatest city on earth,' said federal prosecutor Joon H. Kim on Wednesday, while announcing terror charges against suspect Sayfullo Saipov, 29, who will face the death penalty in the case.

Five members of this group of Argentinian friends were also killed. They are Hernán Diego Mendoza (far left), Alejandro Damián Pagnucco (second from left), Ariel Erlij (third from left), Diego Enrique Angelini (second from right) and Hernán Ferruchi (third from right). A sixth friend, Martin Ludovico Marro (not pictured), was injured

Hernan Ferruchi (left) gives a thumbs-up in the heartbreaking clip, while Alejandro Damian Pagnucco (right) smiles as the group bikes along the Hudson River. Both men were killed in the truck terror attack

Ariel Erlij (left), who died in the attack, is believed to be the man in the red coat in the video. Seen right, Hernán Mendoza (left), who also died in the attack, smiles while his friend flashes a peace sign at the camera

The Argentinian victims were in a larger group of men who were all celebrating their 30th school reunion

It is not clear how long the video was shot before the deadly truck attack, but it depicts the friends biking along the west side of Manhattan, heading south toward the Tribeca location where the terrorist struck the bike path shortly after 3pm.

'They were riding two by two, heard a noise, and saw in seconds that a truck was running over them. It was like hell, with bodies everywhere, people crying, people trying to flee,' the Argentine consul in New York, Mateo Estreme, told the Buenos Aries daily Clarin.

Ariel Benvenuto shot the poingant video and is seen briefly turning the camera on himself

'They lived moments of companionship, of friendship, they bought gifts for their children, their families, many of them had their gifts with them,' Estreme said in Spanish.

'They thought of their families and imagine this terrorist moving forward with his truck ... it is unthinkable, terribly sad and none of us has words to describe it,' the diplomat went on.

'One of them, it was the first time he left Argentina... and the first time he leaves the country a terrorist kills him in New York,' said Estreme. 'There are no words to describe that.'

Wednesday night, President Donald Trump tweeted that he had spoken to Argentina's president to offer condolences, calling the five deceased 'proud and wonderful men' and adding 'God be with them!'

The Argentinian victims were in a larger group of men who were all celebrating their 30th school reunion.

A sixth man in the group of Argentinians, Martin Ludovico Marro, was also hospitalized in the incident, which killed a total of eight people and injured 12.

Erlij, who runs a steel mill in Argentina, had paid out of his own pocket to ensure two of the members of the group could be there, local news reported.

The Argentine government confirmed Tuesday night that most of the group - all in the class of 1987 - had flown to New York for a school reunion.

The cyclists were hit as they traveled south along the bike path of the West Side Highway shortly after 3pm on Tuesday

Erlij (left) ran a steel mill in his home country, and had paid for the flights of two of his friends. Pagnucco (right, believed to be pictured with his wife and children) was also killed

President Trump tweeted late Wednesday that he had called his Argentinian counterpart to offer condolences on the deaths

Erlij, 48, who owned the Argentinian steel company Ivanar, had paid for flights for two of his friends so they could attend, according to Infobae.

On arriving in New York, the group was met by Marro, the man who was injured in the attack. Though born in Argentina, he is now a resident of Newton, Connecticut, Wicked Local reported.

All of them had graduated from a polytechnic college in the Argentinian city of Rosario and had been in the city several days when the incident occurred, according to Argentinian newspaper La Nacion.

On Tuesday the group had chosen to enjoy the pleasant, crisp fall afternoon by hiring Citibikes and following the leisurely bike path down West St, which runs alongside the Hudson River.

They were near Stuyvesant High School - at the tail end of the killer's rampage - when he struck them, Mateo Estrémé, Consul General of Argentina to the United Nations, told The New York Post.

'We are trying to figure out how to go on - especially the families,' he said. '[They] are completely lost about, well, being very far from their relatives. They don't know what to do.'

Angelini (left) was also killed in the attack, as was Mendoza (right). The other man slain in the incident was Hernán Ferruchi. A sixth victim, Argentinian expat Martin Ludovico Marro, was hospitalized

Alejandro Pagnucco (left) took this photograph of himself in New York and shared it with Facebook friends prior to his death. They remembered him as an 'excellent person' and 'a friend to all of us'. Martin Ludovico Marro (right) was injured but survived

And he said that even those that survived have been horribly scarred by the attack. 'They are devastated,' he said. 'They are still in shock because they cannot believe that this happened.'

In its statement, the Argentinian government said that Marro, 'is hospitalized at the Presbyterian Hospital of Manhattan recovering from injuries suffered [and is] out of danger'.

Marro's wife, Mariana Dagatti, who is also from Argentina, is now in New York with her husband, according to their friend, Newton City Councilor James Cote.

The pair had hosted a fundraiser for Cote, a Republican, last week, he said. He added that Marro is a scientist at the Novartis Institutes in Cambridge, while his wife is an architect, and that they have lived in Newton for about seven years.

Tom Mountain, chairman of the Newton Republican City Committee, said the couple are 'kind, caring and wonderful people,' and said that the 'horror show' attack had left the committee 'absolutely stunned.'

Saipov (seen left) was seen moments before he was shot trying to flee the scene. The attacker (right) brandished two fake weapons - a pellet gun and a paint gun - after getting out of the truck, leading to him being shot

Shattered bicycles are seen here on the West Side Highway bike path where the victims were hit on Tuesday afternoon

A boy places flowers at a makeshift memorial which includes Argentinian and Belgian flags on a police barricade in the bike path that was the scene of an attack yesterday. The dead included five Argentinians, two Americans, and a Belgian woman

Before his death, Pagnucco had shared a photograph of himself in New York with a Facebook group dedicated to the multiplayer war video game War Machines, in which he played as a tank commander with the nickname 'Janus'.

In a post on the group, one of its members remembered him as an 'excellent person [with] spotless conduct,' adding, 'you really are a friend to all of us and we're going to miss you... May you rest in peace for all eternity.'

The Argentinian government said in its statement: 'The consulate general continues working in permanent contact with the police authorities and the hospital that received the affected, as well as with the relatives in Argentina.

'We accompany the families in this terrible moment of deep pain, which all Argentines share.'

In the wake of the attack, Argentinian President Mauricio Macri tweeted: 'Profoundly moved by the tragic deaths this afternoon in NY. We place ourselves at the disposition of the families of the Argentinian victims.'

On Wednesday night, mourners gathered outside the Instituto Politecnico high school in Rosario, Argentina. All five Argentinians who died graduated from the school in 1987, and they were in New York celebrating their 30th reunion

Argentinians place candles during a vigil organized in front of the high school where five Argentine citizens killed in the New York truck attack all graduated 30 years ago on Wednesday night

Of the eight killed, two were American citizens. They were identified as Darren Drake, 32, and Nicholas Cleves, 23, who were both run over on the West Side Highway bike path in Manhattan's Tribeca shortly after 3pm.

The other victim who died was Belgian mother-of-two Ann-Laure Decadt, 31.

On Wednesday at the scene of the attack, a makeshift memorial with Belgian and Argentinian flags was seen, with nationals of those countries as well as Americans coming to pay their respects.

In Rosario, Argentina, mourners gathered on Wednesday night outside the Instituto Politecnico high school, where the Argentinian victims of the attack all graduated in 1987.

They were in New York with a group totally about ten classmates to celebrate their 30th high school reunion when they were killed.