A small jet crashed near Northeast Philadelphia's Roosevelt Mall on Friday night, the second such aviation disaster this week.
The jet was an air ambulance traveling between Northeast Philadelphia Airport and Missouri's Springfield-Branson National Airport in Missouri. It crashed shortly after takeoff.
The Learjet 55 was carrying six people at the time of the crash, four crew members and two passengers. The plane was operated by Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, a company which is licensed in Florida.
“Our immediate concern is for the patient’s family, our personnel, their families and other victims that may have been hurt on the ground,” Jet Rescue shared in a statement.
Videos of the wreck, including several that appeared to capture the moment of impact, were shared widely on social media immediately after the crash. Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker asked for "prayers for any and everyone who may be affected" and asked residents not to pick up pieces of the plane's wreckage.
“If you see debris, call 911," she said in a press conference. Don’t touch anything.”
Parker added that the total number of casualties is unknown, noting that “several dwellings and vehicles were impacted.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said he was offering "all Commonwealth resources" to deal with the crash in a post to X.
The crash in Philadelphia comes just two days after an American Airlines flight collided with a Black Hawk helicopter in the skies above Washington, D.C. 67 people were killed in one of the deadliest U.S. air disasters in decades.
Reports claimed that the air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport was understaffed at the time of the crash but President Donald Trump rushed to blame the incident on diversity initiatives. Aviation safety expert Anthony Brickhouse told Salon he was "embarrassed" by the president's actions.
“As air safety investigators, we are trained to focus on data and evidence, and the NTSB and the FAA are literally just starting their investigation. It is way too early to assign blame and accidents should never be made political," Brickhouse said. "We just lost 67 people, and it's important that we let the investigators do their jobs and figure out what happened. There's a time and a place for politics; today is not it.”
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