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A medical plane carrying a child patient and 5 others crashes in Philadelphia, setting homes ablaze

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Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

First responders work the scene after what witnesses say was a plane crash in Philadelphia, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

A medical transport jet transporting a child who had just completed treatment for a life-threatening condition, her mother and four others crashed into a Philadelphia neighborhood shortly after takeoff Friday evening, exploding in a fireball that engulfed several homes.

Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, which operated the Learjet 55, said in a statement: โ€œWe cannot confirm any survivors.โ€ There was no immediate word whether anyone on the ground was killed, but at least six people were treated for injuries at a hospital.

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Everyone aboard the flight was from Mexico. The child was being transported home, according to Jet Rescue spokesperson Shai Gold. The flightโ€™s final destination was Tijuana after a stop in Missouri.

The patient and her mother were on board along with four crew members. Gold said this was a seasoned crew and everyone involved in these flights goes through rigorous training.

โ€œWhen an incident like this happens, itโ€™s shocking and surprising,โ€ Gold told The Associated Press. โ€œAll of the aircraft are maintained, not a penny is spared because we know our mission is so critical.โ€

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said at a news conference late Friday that officials expected fatalities in the โ€œawful aviation disaster.โ€

โ€œWe know that there will be loss,โ€ he said.

A spokesperson for Temple University Hospital-Jeanes, Jennifer Reardon, said they had treated six people with injuries from the crash. Three of those people had since been released and the others were in fair condition. She wasnโ€™t able to provide information about their injuries or where the people were when they sustained them.

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.

The Philadelphia crash was the second fatal incident in 15 months for Jet Rescue. In 2023 five crewmembers were killed when their plane overran a runway in the central Mexican state of Morelos and crashed into a hillside.

In Philadelphia, a doorbell camera captured video of the plane plunging in a streak of white and exploding as it hit the ground near a shopping mall and major roadway.

โ€œAll we heard was a loud roar and didnโ€™t know where it was coming from. We just turned around and saw the big plume,โ€ said Jim Quinn, the owner of the doorbell camera.

The crash happened less than 3 miles (5 kilometers) from Northeast Philadelphia Airport, which primarily serves business jets and charter flights.

The Learjet 55 quickly disappeared from radar after taking off from the airport at 6:06 p.m. and climbing to an altitude of 1,600 feet (487 meters). It was registered to a company operating as Med Jets, according to the flight tracking website Flight Aware.

Shortly after 6 p.m., audio recorded by LiveATC captured an air traffic controller telling โ€œMedevac Medservice 056โ€ to turn right when departing. About 30 seconds later it repeats the request before asking, โ€œYou on frequency?โ€ Minutes later, the controller says, โ€œWe have a lost aircraft. Weโ€™re not exactly sure what happened, so weโ€™re trying to figure it out. For now the field is going to be closed.โ€

In a post on the social media platform Truth Social, President Donald Trump said: โ€œSo sad to see the plane go down in Philadelphia.โ€

โ€œMore innocent souls lost,โ€ he added. โ€œOur people are totally engaged.โ€

A continuous stream of police vehicles and fire trucks initially responded at the crash site, taking over business parking lots. 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 center in the densely populated neighborhood of Rhawnhurst.

One cellphone video taken by a witness moments after the crash showed a chaotic scene with debris scattered across the intersection. A wall of orange glowed just beyond as a plume of black smoke rose into the sky and sirens blared.

Michael Schiavone, 37, was sitting at his home in Mayfair, a nearby neighborhood, 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, it looked like a missile came down.

โ€œThere was a large explosion, so I thought we were under attack for a second,โ€ he said.

Jet Rescue, which provides global air ambulance services, 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 FAA said the National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation. The NTSB said an investigator arrived and more officials would be there Saturday.

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Associated Press writers Rio Yamat, Hallie Golden and Josh Cornfield contributed to this report.