A medical jet with six Mexican nationals onboard crashed into a busy Philadelphia neighborhood on Friday, authorities said, marking another US aviation disaster after a passenger plane and a military helicopter collided midair in Washington earlier this week.
Video footage appeared to show the twin-engine plane descending at a sharp angle toward a residential area, sparking a huge fireball upon impact and showering wreckage over homes and vehicles.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the aircraft was a Learjet 55 — an American-French business jet — that had taken off shortly before from Northeast Philadelphia Airport bound for Branson, Missouri.
Photo: Reuters
The crash happened just after 6pm local time.
A young girl who had been in the US for medical care, her mother, and members of the flight and medical crews accompanying her onboard were killed in the crash, the children’s hospital that treated her said.
“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,” Shriners Children’s spokesman Mel Bower said.
All six of those onboard were Mexican citizens, the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
“The airline company ... confirmed to the consulate that six people of Mexican nationality were traveling on the aircraft,” it wrote on X.
The operator, Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, confirmed in a statement to US media that there were two passengers and four crew, adding that “at this time, we cannot confirm any survivors.”
Dozens of emergency workers were on the scene outside Roosevelt Mall, a strip mall in Northeast Philadelphia with retailers and food outlets.
US President Donald Trump posted on Friday on his Truth Social platform that he was “sad” to see “more souls lost” in the Philadelphia tragedy.
He praised first responders, adding: “God Bless you all.”
Witnesses told local TV crews that they saw body parts in or near the wreckage, as Philadelphia City Council member Mike Driscoll said he feared residents or others on the ground might have been killed.
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