Information on fatalities wasn’t immediately available. Several homes and vehicles had been damaged.
A medical transport jet carrying a pediatric patient and five others crashed into a Philadelphia neighborhood about 30 seconds after taking off on Friday, with the incident leaving homes and cars in flames.
Mayor Cherelle Parker said Wednesday night at a news conference that information on fatalities wasn’t immediately known but several homes and vehicles had been damaged.
“This is still an active scene under investigation,” she said.
The small plane quickly disappeared from radar after taking off from the airport at 6:06 p.m. and climbing to an altitude of 1,600 feet. It was registered to a company operating as Med Jets, according to the flight tracking website Flight Aware.
The plane crashed in a busy intersection near Roosevelt Mall, an outdoor shopping center in the densely populated neighborhood of Rhawnhurst. The crash happened less than 3 miles from Northeast Philadelphia Airport, which primarily serves business jets and charter flights.
Video shared on social media shows the plane streaking toward the ground before a massive explosion lights up the evening sky.
Other footage shows black smoke billowing from what appears to be burning plane wreckage on a city street, with debris littering the ground and stunned onlookers on the street.
Another video shows police cordoning off the scene as firefighters deal with multiple fires.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said in a post on social media that the response to the incident was being coordinated across local agencies.
“We are offering all Commonwealth resources as they respond to the small private plane crash in Northeast Philly,” Shapiro said in the post. “We’ll continue to provide updates as more information is available.”
The Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management referred to the crash as a “major incident.”
“Roads closed in area including parts of Roosevelt Boulevard,” the office wrote in a post on X. “Avoid area.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote on social media that the plane was a Learjet 55 that was en route to Springfield-Branson National Airport in Missouri.
“There were reportedly 6 people on board,” Duffy wrote, adding that both the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) would investigate. He said further updates will be provided as they become available.
The plane’s owner, Jet Rescue, provides global air ambulance services. The company, based in Mexico, 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 Epoch Times has reached out to the NTSB and the FAA with requests for additional information.
By Tom Ozimek
