PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Mayor Cherelle Parker said Sunday that three persons who were hurt on the ground when an aircraft crashed in a busy Philadelphia neighborhood, killing seven people, are still in serious condition.
According to Parker, five of the 22 injured are still in the hospital. Significant damage was done to at least 11 homes and a few businesses.
Regarding the victims who have passed away, Parker stated, “Our city is still grieving their loss and they are in our thoughts and prayers.”
Less than a minute after taking off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport on Friday night, an air ambulance headed for Mexico crashed to the ground, carrying six passengers, including a girl who had been receiving treatment at a city hospital for months.
Debris from the Learjet 55 disaster blasted into the area, injuring neighboring homes and killing one of the dead inside a car.
The scene along Roosevelt Boulevard on Friday, January 31, 2025, in Philadelphia, following a minor aviation crash close to Roosevelt Mall. (The Philadelphia Inquirer/Steven M. Falk via AP)
Parker stated that the crash investigation was still ongoing and that authorities were contacting neighbors door-to-door to get information.
The collision occurred just two days after the deadliest U.S. aviation accident in a generation, in which an Army helicopter carrying three troops and an American Airlines flight carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided in midair in Washington, D.C. No one survived.
Roosevelt Boulevard, a prominent thoroughfare close to the incident site, was closed on Sunday but would reopen by Monday morning rush hour, according to police.
State Representative Jared Solomon, who grew up in the Castor Gardens neighborhood, described it as a working-class community with a lot of row houses. There is a lot of traffic in this crowded residential and commercial area.
Solomon stated on Sunday that these individuals are merely trying to assist others. They are first responders, nurses, and construction workers. In a community that is constantly ready to provide a hand to those in and around our city, we can now sort of look inside and come together as one.
Before it crashed, the aircraft, which was headed for Tijuana following a planned layover in Missouri, had risen to a height of roughly 1,500 feet (457 meters). The jet was severely splintered in what National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy described as a high-impact collision. She added it could take weeks for NTSB employees to gather debris from the aircraft.
According to hospital staff, the boy recently finished treatment at Shriners Children’s Philadelphia for an ailment that is difficult to treat in Mexico. Four crew members and her mother also perished. According to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, all six of the plane’s casualties were citizens of her nation.
On Saturday, February 1, 2025, a small plane crashed in Philadelphia, prompting investigators to work the area. (Photo by Matt Rourke/AP)
The identity of the deceased have not been made public by Philadelphia authorities or Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, the owner of the aircraft. However, Mexican emergency agency XE Medica Ambulancias said that Dr. Ra l Meza, its chief of neonatology, of the State of Mexico near Mexico City, was another casualty. Josu Ju rez of Veracruz was the co-pilot of the airplane, according to his relatives.
Parker stated that until Mexican consular officials determine it is appropriate, the names of all the Mexican victims who have died will not be made public.
The Mexican-registered aircraft that crashed in Philadelphia was flown by Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, a Mexican-based organization that also operates in Miami. Five Jet Rescue crew members perished in 2023 when their aircraft crashed into a hillside after overrunning a runway in the state of Morelos in central Mexico.
Medevac Medservice 056 was instructed to veer right when departing by an air traffic controller at Northeast Philadelphia Airport, according to audio caught by LiveATC. The controller asks, “You on frequency?” after repeating the request for about 30 seconds. The controller announces, “We have a lost aircraft,” a few minutes later. We’re trying to figure out what happened because we don’t know exactly what it is. The field will be closed for the time being.