Air Ambulance Was Taking Child Home After Treatment

UPDATE Feb 1, 2025 12:25 PM CST

Investigators sifted through charred debris Saturday in search of an explanation for the explosion and crash of an air ambulance in Philadelphia. Authorities confirmed that all six people on the plane and one other person—who was in a car—were killed, the AP reports, and 19 people on the ground were injured. At least three of them were still hospitalized on Saturday. Officials said the casualty figures could change because the crash involved a large area with many people in it. President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed that everyone on the plane was from Mexico. A hospital spokesperson said the patient had been treated at Shriners Children's Philadelphia "and was being transported back to her home country."

Jan 31, 2025 8:38 PM CST

A medical transport jet with a child patient and five others aboard crashed into a Philadelphia neighborhood shortly after takeoff Friday evening, exploding in a fireball that engulfed several homes, per the AP. Jet Rescue Air Ambulance said the patient and another passenger were on board along with four crew members. "We cannot confirm any survivors," the company said in a statement. "Our immediate concern is for the patient's family, our personnel, their families, and other victims that may have been hurt on the ground."

Mayor Cherelle Parker said Friday 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. A doorbell camera captured footage of the plane plunging in a streak of white and exploding as it hit the ground near a shopping mall and major roadway. The crash happened less than 3 miles from Northeast Philadelphia Airport, which primarily serves business jets and charter flights.

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The plane, a Learjet 55, quickly disappeared from radar after taking off from the airport at 6:06pm and climbing to an altitude of 1,600 feet. It was en route to Springfield, Missouri, and 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 comes just two days after the worst US plane crash in a generation.)

(More plane crash stories.)