Medical jet with six aboard crash in the neighborhood

A small medical transport aircraft crashed into several buildings in northeastern Philadelphia on Friday night, putting home and vehicles on fire and injuring people on the ground.

The aircraft had been on a medical transport mission that had a child patient and her mother and four crew members.

“We know there will be losses,” said Pennsylvania Gov Josh Shapiro during a news conference at the scene of the accident and called it a “terrible aviation disaster.”

Videos of the incident online show the plane that comes down quickly and triggers a huge fireball.

All six people on board were Mexican, the country’s Foreign Ministry said on x. The plane traveled to Springfield, Missouri.

A spokesman for Temple University Hospital-Jeanes in Philadelphia said it had treated six people wounded on the ground under the crash.

Three were treated and released, while details are not yet known about the condition of the other three.

The plane left Northeast Philadelphia Airport around 18:07 local time and crashed less than four miles (6.4 km) away moments later, BBC’s US partner CBS reported.

The first emergency calls went out around 18:12, it added.

In a statement, Jared Solomon said, a state representative of northeastern Philadelphia,: “In a time of deep tragedy, I was inspired to witness hundreds of our first respondents who sprint against the danger of securing our neighborhood’s safety.”

Witnesses described grenade from the crashes that damaged cars and sent burning garbage on the streets. Photos of demand shows burning cars missing.

The accident just happened blocks from Roosevelt Mall, a three-story shopping center in a densely populated part of Philadelphia, the fifth largest city in the United States.

The area is filled with terraced homes and shops.

Fire officials said several houses were burning in the area Cottman Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard, CBS reported.

A man talking to CBS said he was driving in the area when he heard a swirling sound and then a loud explosion.

“Everyone just started screaming,” he said.

Another witness told local media that the explosion “turned on the whole heaven”.

“I just saw a plane basically hit the building and it exploded. Heaven lit up and I pulled over, and basically it was just really bad here, ‘the witness told WPVI-TVthat describes the crash as feeling like an earthquake.

Ryan Tian, ​​23, told The Philadelphia study He had dinner when he saw a “massive fireball” that turned the sky orange. “I thought we were attacked by something,” he said.

The girl on the plane, from Tijuana, Mexico, had received treatment from Shriner’s Children’s Philadelphia, according to hospital spokesman Mel Bower, reports CBS.

Mr. Bower said her treatment had ended and that she was on her way home and that there had been “a broadcast” in the hospital for her earlier on Friday.

He added that two doctors in the plane were from Jet Air Rescue Air ambulance.

Were you witnessing the crash? If it is safe to do so, Get in touch.

The Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs said staff at the Mexican Consulate in Philadelphia were in contact with relatives of those on air.

Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said the city’s officials do not know the number of fatalities, but the city “asks for prayers for anyone and anyone who may have been affected”.

“If you see garbage, call 911, don’t touch anything,” she told the city’s residents.

According to data on flightaware, a flight tracking site, the aircraft was run by a company called with Jets, and had arrived in Philadelphia from Florida less than four hours earlier.

FAA and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigates.

In a statement, President Donald Trump said his administration was “completely engaged”.

“So sad to see the plane go down in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Several innocent souls lost,” he said.