A medical transport jet carrying a young patient, her mother, and four others crashed into a Philadelphia neighborhood shortly after takeoff Friday evening, causing a flame that devoured multiple homes.
Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, which flew the Learjet 55, said in a statement, “We cannot confirm any survivors.” There was no early news on whether anyone on the ground had been killed.
All six passengers were from Mexico. According to Shai Gold, a representative for Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, the boy was treated in Philadelphia for a life-threatening condition and was being transferred back to Mexico. After a layover in Missouri, the airplane arrived at its final destination of Tijuana.
The patient and her mother were on board, along with four crew members. Gold stated that this was a seasoned crew, and that everyone involved in these flights receives extensive training.
“When an incident like this happens, it is shocking and surprising,” Gold told the Associated Press. “All of the aircraft are maintained, not a penny is spared because we know our mission is so critical.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro told a press conference late Friday that officials expect fatalities in this “awful aviation disaster.”
“We know that there will be loss,” he informed me.
The plane is registered in Mexico. Jet Rescue is situated in Mexico and operates both there and in the United States.
The incident occurred barely two days after the United States’ greatest flying disaster in a generation. On Wednesday night, an American Airlines flight carrying 60 passengers and four crew members crashed with an Army helicopter carrying three soldiers in midair over Washington, D.C. There were no survivors in the crash.
The Philadelphia crash marked Jet Rescue’s second deadly occurrence in 15 months. In 2023, five crew members were murdered when their plane overran a runway in Morelos, central Mexico, and crashed into a hillside.
In Philadelphia, a doorbell camera got images of the jet plummeting in a white streak and bursting as it collided with the ground near a shopping mall and major highway.
“We only heard a huge roar and had no idea where it came from. Jim Quinn, the owner of the doorbell camera, stated, “We just turned around and saw the big plume.”
The disaster occurred fewer than three miles from Northeast Philadelphia Airport, which handles mostly business aircraft and charter flights.
The Learjet 55 swiftly vanished from radar after taking off from the airport at 6:06 p.m. and climbed to an altitude of 1,600 feet (487 meters). It was registered to Med Jets, according to the flight tracking website Flight Aware.
President Donald Trump said on the social media network Truth Social, “So sad to see the plane go down in Philadelphia.”
“More innocent souls lost,” he concluded. “Our people are totally engaged.”
Initially, a steady stream of police and fire engines responded to the incident site, taking over business parking lots. Within an hour, the sound of sirens and shouted instructions had faded into relative silence at the outskirts of the closed-off area, and darkness fell as drivers passing by glanced out to see what was going on.
The plane crashed in a major intersection near Roosevelt Mall, an outdoor shopping facility in the highly populated Rhawnhurst neighborhood.
A witness captured a cellphone video shortly after the incident, showing a chaotic scene with debris thrown over the crossing. A wall of orange burned just beyond, while a column of black smoke soared into the sky and sirens sounded.
Michael Schiavone, 37, was sitting in his home in Mayfair, a nearby area, when he heard a tremendous noise and felt the house shake. He described it as a tiny earthquake, and when he glanced at his home security video, it appeared that a missile had fallen.
“There was a large explosion, so I thought we were under attack for a second,” he explained.
Jet Rescue, which provides global air ambulance services, flew baseball Hall of Famer David Ortiz to Boston after being shot in the Dominican Republic in 2019 and assisted in transferring severely injured COVID-19 patients.
According to the FAA, the investigation will be led by the National Transportation Safety Board. According to the NTSB, an investigator has arrived and more officials will be there on Saturday.
