A medical transport jet crashed into a Philadelphia residential neighborhood on Friday, January 31. Several sources, including CBS News and The Associated Press, report that the plane had only taken off 30 seconds before the crash. Six people were aboard the plane, one of them being a pediatric patient girl who was returning home after receiving treatment.
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The crash took place at around 6:00 p.m. in Northeast Philadelphia at the Roosevelt Boulevard and Cottman Avenue intersection, just outside Roosevelt Mall. The medical plane, a Learjet 55, departed from the Northeast Philadelphia Airport.
The United States Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, confirmed that there were six people on board. Jet Rescue Air Ambulance indicated that the medical jet carried four crew members, a pediatric patient, and the patient's escort, according to a statement shared with NBC News. The company cannot confirm any survivors.
Pediatric Patient Onboard
One Jet Rescue Air Ambulance spokesman, Shai Gold, told the outlet that the pediatric patient was a girl, with her escort being her mother. According to Gold, the girl was from Tijuana, Mexico, and she traveled to the U.S. to receive treatment "sponsored by a third-partner charity." "She did her course of care. She was going home," Gold said.
"Our immediate concern is for the patient's family, our personnel, their families and other victims that may have been hurt on the ground," the statement reads.
Video footage of the crash shows the play plummeting into the residential neighborhood. The plane seems to be already engulfed in flames. What followed was a huge bright light and fire that illuminated the streets of Northeast Philadelphia.
