Medical Transport Jet Crashes in Philadelphia, 6 Aboard
A medical transport jet with a child patient, her mother and four crew members on board crashed into a Philadelphia neighbourhood shortly after takeoff Friday evening, exploding in a fireball that engulfed several homes.
All six people aboard were from Mexico. The child had been treated in Philadelphia for a life-threatening condition and was being transported home to Mexico, according to Shai Gold, a spokesperson for Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, which owned the plane. The fliht’s final destination was Tijuana after a stop in Springfield, Mo.
Gold said this was a seasoned crew and that everyone involved in these flights goes through rigorous training.
“When an incident like this happens, it’s shocking and surprising,” Gold said. “All of the aircraft are maintained, not a penny is spared because we know our mission is so critical.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said at a news conference late Friday that officials expect fatalities in this “awful aviation disaster.”
“We know that there will be loss,” he said.
The plane was registered in Mexico. Jet Rescue is based in Mexico and has operations both there and in the U.S.
The crash came just two days after the deadliest U.S. air disaster in a generation. On Wednesday night, an American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided in midair in Washington, D.C., with an army helicopter carrying three soldiers. There were no survivors.
‘All we heard was a loud roar’
In Philadelphia, a doorbell camera captured footage of the plane plunging in a streak of white and exploding in a fireball as it hit the ground in a residential neighbourhood near a shopping mall and major roadway.
“All we heard was a loud roar and didn’t know where it was coming from. We just turned around and saw the big plume,” said Jim Quinn, the owner of the doorbell camera.
The crash happened less than five kilometres from Northeast Philadelphia Airport, which primarily serves business jets and charter flights.
The plane, a Learjet 55, quickly disappeared from radar after taking off and climbing to an altitude of 487 metres.
U.S. President Donald Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social that it was “so sad” to see news of the crash.
A continuous stream of police vehicles and fire trucks initially poured into the scene, taking over business parking lots as emergency workers responded. Within about an hour, the cry of sirens and shouted orders had faded into relative quiet at the edges of the closed-off area, and darkness settled in as drivers passing by peered out trying to see what was happening.
The plane crashed in a busy intersection near Roosevelt Mall, an outdoor shopping centre in the densely populated neighbourhood of Rhawnhurst.
One cellphone video taken by a witness moments after the plane crashed showed a chaotic scene with debris scattered across the intersection. A wall of orange glowed just beyond the intersection as a plume of black smoke quickly rose into the sky and sirens blared.
Michael Schiavone, 37, was sitting at his home in Mayfair, a nearby neighbourhood, when he heard a loud bang and his house shook. He said it felt like a mini earthquake and when he checked his home security camera footage, he said it looked like a missile was coming down.
“There was a large explosion, so I thought we were under attack for a second,” he said.
Jet Rescue provides global air ambulance services. The company flew baseball hall of famer David Ortiz to Boston after he was shot in the Dominican Republic in 2019 and was involved in transporting patients critically ill with COVID-19.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation. The board said it was gathering information
