A medical transport jet carrying a child patient and five others slammed into a Philadelphia neighbourhood about 30 seconds after taking off on Friday, erupting in a fireball and engulfing several homes in fire.
Jet Rescue Air Ambulance said the young patient and her mother were on board, along with four crew members. All six people aboard were from Mexico.
The child had been treated in Philadelphia for a life-threatening condition and was being transported home to Mexico, according to Jet Rescue Air Ambulance spokesperson Shai Gold. The flight’s final destination was Tijuana after a stop in Missouri.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said at a news conference late on Friday that officials expect fatalities in this “awful aviation disaster.”
“We know that there will be loss,” he said.
The plane was registered in Mexico. Jet Rescue is based in Mexico and has operations both there and in the US.
Mayor Cherelle Parker said at a news conference that information on fatalities was not 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 falling from the sky in a streak of white and exploding in a fireball as it hit the ground in a residential neighbourhood near a shopping mall and major roadway.
“All we heard was a loud roar and didn’t know where it was coming from. We just turned around and saw the big plume,” said Jim Quinn, the owner of the doorbell camera.
The crash happened less than three miles from Northeast Philadelphia Airport, which primarily serves business jets and charter flights.
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 (487 metres). 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 crash comes two days after the country’s deadliest aviation disaster in almost a quarter century.
An American Eagle jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided in midair on Wednesday night in Washington, DC, with an Army helicopter carrying three soldiers. There were no survivors in that crash.
“More innocent souls lost,” he said. “Our people are totally engaged.”
The plane crashed in a busy intersection near Roosevelt Mall, an outdoor shopping centre where first responders were blocking traffic and onlookers crowded onto a street corner in the residential neighbourhood of Rhawnhurst. Philadelphia’s emergency management office said roads are closed in the area.
The plane’s owner, Jet Rescue, provides global air ambulance services.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates air crashes, said it was gathering information about the crash.
