Plane with 6 aboard crashes in Philadelphia, setting homes ablaze and unleashing a fireball

globalnews.ca:

A medical transport jet with a child patient and five others aboard crashed into a Philadelphia neighbourhood shortly after takeoff Friday evening, exploding in a fireball that engulfed several homes.Jet Rescue Air Ambulance said the patient and another passenger were on board along with four crew members.“We cannot confirm any survivors,” the company said in a statement. “Our immediate concern is for the patient’s family, our personnel, their families and other victims that may have been hurt on the ground.”Mayor Cherelle Parker said Wednesday night at a news conference that information on fatalities wasn’t immediately known but several homes and vehicles had been damaged.“This is still an active scene under investigation,” she said.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 that crash.Over Philadelphia, a doorbell camera captured footage 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 4.8 kilometres from Northeast Philadelphia Airport, which primarily serves business jets and charter flights.The plane, a Learjet 55, quickly disappeared from radar after taking off from the airport at 6:06 p.m.

and climbing to an altitude of 1,600 feet (487 meters). It was en route to Springfield, Missouri, and registered to a company