Footage has captured the moment when the medical jet slammed into a residential neighbourhood in Philadelphia, erupting into a fireball and engulfing homes in flames.
The Learjet 55 crashed near Roosevelt Mall in Pennsylvania around 30 seconds after taking off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport on Friday.
Doorbell and dashcam videos captured the moment the aircraft hit the ground and burst into flames, killing six passengers including a sick young girl who had been travelling with her mother after being treated at Pennsylvania’s Shriner’s Children’s Hospital.
The shocking footage shows a huge fireball erupting in the sky above the US state, while stunned motorists queuing on a central road in what had been normal rush hour traffic watch on in horror.
The sky above the congested stretch can be seen turning orange as the plane plummets from the sky before a huge cloud of flames and smoke bursts upwards in an image eye witnesses have compared to a missile attack.
Just after 6pm on Friday, the jet took off from the Philadelphia airport heading towards Missouri, with an onward flight from there to Tijuana.
Mere seconds after take off, however, air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane. Harrowing audio revealed controllers desperately trying to get in touch with the aircraft and being met with silence.
“Medevac med service, northeast tower. Medevac med service, northeast tower. Are you on frequency?” the operator can be heard pleading in the recording.
It was followed by the chilling declaration: “We have lost an aircraft,” and the halting of all other flights until Learjet 55’s location could be confirmed.
It vanished from radar after climbing to around 1600ft before plummeting down to earth in a populated area of Northeastern Philadelphia near the Roosevelt shopping mall.
Secretary Sean Duffy of the Department of Transportation said the jet hit a gas pipeline, causing an explosion and fires that spread to three buildings. Authorities evacuated a nearby car park following the blaze and roads have also been closed surrounding the site of the crash.
Jet Rescue Air Ambulance confirmed that all six people on board – four crew members and the patient and her mother – had all died in the crash. All those on board were from Mexico, where the air ambulance firm, which operates internationally, is also based.
Locals described the ensuing scene as similar to a war zone, with limbs scattered across the road and rows of houses also erupting in flames. Pieces of wreckage including a medical oxygen tank have been found at least a quarter mile away from the incident site.
One onlooker, who told US media that had taken off his shirt to stop blood flowing from a child’s head, said he had seen a car “burned to a crisp with a baby seat in the back”.
As well as the six fatalities, a further six people were injured in the aircraft’s crash, a source told NBC10. The victims, one of whom was an 11-year-old boy with head injuries, were not passengers, and have been taken to Temple University Hospital’s Jeanes Campus.
Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro said at a news conference on Friday that officials “knew there would be loss” in this “awful aviation disaster”.
Mayor Cherelle Parker added that several homes and vehicles had been damaged in the crash, telling reporters that the scene of the incident remained under active investigation.
It comes just two days after the US’ deadliest aviation disaster in almost 25 years, when an American Eagle jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided with an Army helicopter carrying three soldiers in Washington DC.
There were no survivors in either crash.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates air crashes, confirmed that it was gathering information about the latest incident.
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