Seven dead, 19 injured in air ambulance crash in Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A person in a car was the seventh fatal victim of the fiery crash of an air ambulance onto a busy Philadelphia street, authorities said Saturday, as investigators sifted through burned cars, damaged homes and charred debris for clues to determine why the aircraft plummeted shortly after takeoff.
Carrying six people, including a child who spent months in treatment at a hospital, the small jet went down just after departing from the Northeast Philadelphia Airport, creating what witnesses described as a massive fireball and leaving a chaotic street scene. At least 19 people were injured, though most were released from hospitals.
Authorities could not yet say why the jet crashed, and Adam Thiel, the city’s managing director, said it could be days — or longer — until officials are able to fully count the number of dead and injured across a massive impact area in a densely populated residential area.
As of Saturday morning, officials said, there were seven dead — six on the jet and the person in the car — and 19 injured.
There are “a lot of unknowns about who was where on the streets” when the plane crashed, and it is possible that the casualty figures will grow, Thiel said.
The crash scene was at least four to six blocks, and authorities were working to assess the damage, including going house to house to inspect the dwellings, Thiel said.
The plane hit the ground just after 6 p.m., during a busy Friday evening dinner hour, and Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said it was aloft for a very short period of time before it crashed.
“All of sudden I heard like a ‘boom,’ and I thought it was a thunderstorm,” said Selkuc Koc, a waiter at the Four Seasons Diner on Cottman Avenue. “And I get up and look at the smoke and the fire, it was like a balloon, I thought it was a gas station blew up.”
One patron of the diner was hit and injured by a small but heavy metal object that flew through the window, Koc said.
Spokespersons for Temple University Hospital-Jeanes and Jefferson Health, which treated the injured, said most of the patients they saw were released by midday, but at least three remained hospitalized.
Of the six people on board the medical transport jet, one was a child who had just completed treatment at Shriners Children’s Philadelphia hospital, one was her mother and four were crew members, officials said.
A hospital spokesperson said the girl spent four months there receiving life-saving treatment for a condition not easily treated in Mexico. Shriners officials said they could not give details about the girl or her family because of patient privacy concerns.
“Her journey was one of hope and of aspiration,” spokesperson Mel Bower told The Philadelphia Inquirer. The relationships that the girl formed with staff “were true and were dear,” and she will be missed greatly by them, he said.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said they were all from her country. In a statement on the social media platform X, she mourned their deaths.
"Consular authorities are in constant contact with the families; I have asked the Foreign Affairs Secretary to support whatever is needed. My solidarity with their loved ones and friends,” she said in Spanish.
Neither Philadelphia officials nor plane owner Jet Rescue Air Ambulance have revealed the identities of the dead.
But XE Médica Ambulancias, a Mexican emergency service, identified one of its doctors, Raúl Meza, as a victim. In a post on X, it said he was the service's chief of neonatology and assigned to a the ISEM Atizapán hospital, which is located in the State of Mexico near Mexico City.
In Veracruz, a city on the Gulf of Mexico, relatives of Josué Juárez said he was the aircraft’s co-pilot. They were preparing to hold a family ceremony and staying away from TV and social media to avoid seeing images of the crash.
They had not seen videos but were told that there was a horrible explosion, that the plane broke apart and that the crash scene covered several blocks, brother Édgar Juárez told The Associated Press by phone.
Josué Juárez lived in central Mexico, loved salsa dancing and video games and had been a pilot for more than a decade, his brother said. He loved to fly and worked for the air ambulance service for more than a year, flying mostly from Mexico's Caribbean coast to the United States.
“He was always aware that he had his risks, but the truth is that more accidents happen on the road,” Édgar Juárez said.
Tijuana, Mexico, across the border from San Diego, was to have been the flight’s final destination after a stop in Missouri.
Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, which operated the Mexico-registered Learjet 55, is based in that country and has operations both there and in the U.S. Company spokesperson Shai Gold said a seasoned crew operated the plane and all flight crews undergo rigorous training.
The Philadelphia crash was the second fatal incident in 15 months for Jet Rescue. In 2023 five crewmembers were killed when their plane overran a runway in the central Mexican state of Morelos and crashed into a hillside.
The crash came just two days after the deadliest U.S. air disaster in a generation. On Wednesday night, an American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided in midair in Washington, D.C., with an Army helicopter carrying three soldiers. There were no survivors.
In Philadelphia, a doorbell camera captured video of the plane plunging in a streak of white and exploding as it hit the ground 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 3 miles (5 kilometers) from Northeast Philadelphia Airport, which primarily serves business jets and charter flights.
The Learjet 55 quickly disappeared from radar after leaving the airport at 6:06 p.m. and climbing to an altitude of 1,600 feet (487 meters). It was registered to a company operating as Med Jets, according to the flight tracking website Flight Aware.
Shortly after 6 p.m., audio recorded by LiveATC captured an air traffic controller telling “Medevac Medservice 056” to turn right when departing. About 30 seconds later it repeats the request before asking, “You on frequency?” Minutes later the controller says, “We have a lost aircraft. We’re not exactly sure what happened, so we’re trying to figure it out. For now the field is going to be closed.”
Michael Schiavone, 37, was sitting at his home in Mayfair, a nearby neighborhood, when he heard a loud bang and the house shook.
“There was a large explosion, so I thought we were under attack for a second,” he said.
The FAA said the National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation. The NTSB said an investigator arrived Friday and more officials would be there Saturday.
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Levy reported from Harrisburg. Associated Press writers Félix Márquez in Mexico City, Hallie Golden, John O'Connor and Cedar Attanasio contributed.
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