Medical jet with six aboard crashes into Philadelphia neighbourhood

A small medical transport plane crashed in Northeast Philadelphia, impacting multiple buildings, causing fires in homes and vehicles, and injuring people on the ground. The plane was on a medical transport mission Friday evening, carrying four crew members, a child patient, and a guardian. This information was confirmed in a statement by the medical air ambulance company, Jet Rescue Air Ambulance.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro stated at a press conference at the scene, "We know there will be loss." He called it a "horrific aviation disaster." Emergency responders quickly arrived at the scene, while residents gathered in the streets, which were scattered with burning debris and wreckage. Witnesses described a chaotic scene with injuries and buildings on fire.

Jet Rescue Air Ambulance spokesperson Shay Gold told local NBC that the child on board was receiving life-saving treatment in the United States and was preparing to return to Tijuana, Mexico. The girl was accompanied by her mother, a pilot, a co-pilot, a doctor, and a nurse. Gold also stated that the child’s treatment was sponsored by a third-party charity. “She fought for her life for a long time, and unfortunately, this tragedy happened on the way home,” he said.

The Mexican Consulate in Philadelphia posted a notice on X, calling on Mexican citizens affected by the incident to call a helpline. Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker stated that city officials were not yet clear on the number of fatalities, but the city was “praying for anyone who may have been impacted.” She also reminded citizens, "If you see debris, call 911 and do not touch anything."

The plane crashed just blocks from the Roosevelt Mall, a three-story shopping center in a densely populated area of Philadelphia. The crash area is filled with row houses and stores. Videos online showed the plane falling rapidly and causing a large fireball. Witnesses said the crash sent debris damaging cars and hurling burning wreckage into the streets. Post-accident photos showed charred and mangled cars.

A man who spoke to CBS, a U.S. partner of the BBC, said he was driving in the area when he heard a whooshing sound, followed by a loud bang. "Everyone started screaming," he said. One witness told local media that the explosion "lit up the entire sky." Another witness told WPVI-TV that he “saw a plane basically crash into a building and explode. The sky lit up, I pulled over, and basically, it was pretty bad here," describing the crash as feeling like an earthquake.

Ryan Tian, 23, told The Philadelphia Inquirer that he was eating dinner when he saw a "huge fireball" turn the sky orange. “I thought we were under some sort of attack,” he said. When he saw people start to flee, he decided to “get out of there.” According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Learjet 55 aircraft took off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport at around 6:30 p.m. local time and crashed less than four miles (6.4 kilometers) away.

The FAA stated in a release that the flight was scheduled to fly to Springfield-Branson National Airport in Missouri. Initially, the agency said there were two people on board, but later corrected it to six. According to the flight tracking website FlightAware, the plane was operated by a company called Med Jets and had arrived in Philadelphia from Florida less than four hours earlier. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are investigating the incident.

President Donald Trump stated in a statement that his administration was “fully involved.” “It’s so sad to see the plane crash in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. More innocent souls have been lost,” he said. The plane crash occurred just two days after a collision between a commercial jet and a military helicopter in Washington D.C., where officials suspect all 67 people on board both aircraft were killed. This is the deadliest plane crash in the U.S. in over 20 years.