Officials have confirmed that six people traveling on a medical flight Friday night, including the pilots and passengers, have died after the plane crashed in Northeast Philadelphia. According to PhillyBurbs.com, six Mexican nationals were aboard the Learjet 55 when it crashed near a Philadelphia mall, causing an explosion. One person on the ground also died, and 19 were injured as the crash ignited nearby homes, NPR reports.
Flight Details and Devastation
The flight was transporting a medical crew, a child patient, and her mother. Officials said the explosion set five homes ablaze, while several cars also caught fire.
“The area of impact — that area is roughly four to six blocks, and we also have debris in remote areas where something happened with the aircraft,” Philadelphia Managing Director Adam Thiel said, according to PhillyBurbs.
Casualties and Ongoing Investigation
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker confirmed that one person sitting in a car was killed in the explosion. However, the number of additional injuries remains unclear.
“It will likely be days or more until we are able to definitively answer the question about the number of folks who perished in this tragedy and the outcome for those who are injured right now,” Thiel said. “I would certainly echo, please pray for all those affected otherwise.”
Air Traffic Control Audio Reveals Moment of Distress
Audio from air traffic control captured the moment the crew realized something was wrong.
“Medevac med service zero-five-six, Northeast Tower, are you on frequency?” a controller asked the pilots about four minutes after takeoff from Northeast Philadelphia Airport.
Another voice was heard about five minutes later, asking, “What’s going on down there?”
The operator then confirmed the plane was lost.
“We’re not exactly sure what happened, so we’re trying to figure it out,” the operator said. “For now, the field is going to be closed, so no inbounds or outbounds probably.”
Hospital Confirms Child Patient Was Returning to Mexico
Jet Rescue spokesman Shai Gold confirmed that the company was transporting the child patient from Philadelphia to Tijuana when the tragedy occurred. The child and her mother were returning to Mexico after receiving treatment at Shriners Children’s Philadelphia.
“Shriners Children is heartbroken to confirm that one of our pediatric patients and the child’s mother were aboard the Jet Rescue Air Ambulance that crashed in Philadelphia this evening,” the hospital said in a statement, per PhillyBurbs. “The patient had received care from Shriners Children’s Philadelphia and was being transported back to her home country in Mexico on a contracted air ambulance when the crash happened. Because of patient privacy concerns, we cannot say any more about the patient and her family at this time.”
