One person in car among those dead after air ambulance carrying pediatric patient, 5 others crashes in Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA — One person in a car was among several killed when an air ambulance carrying a pediatric patient, her mother and others crashed Friday night near a mall in northeast Philadelphia.

Details about the victims were not immediately released.

Jet Rescue Air Ambulance said it was unlikely anyone on board survived. The travelers included the pilot, a copilot, the patient, the patient’s mother, a paramedic, and a physician.

Mayor Cherelle Parker said the number of injured victims on the ground climbed to 19. On Friday night, a spokesperson for Temple University Hospital — Jeanes Campus, where some of the injured were taken, said three people had been treated and released and three others were in fair condition.

“We can confirm that there are also a number of other victims who were injured in this incident, and they are being treated in area hospitals,” Parker said at a news conference Saturday morning.

A Jet Rescue Air Ambulance carrying a pediatric patient, the patient’s mother, and four others was traveling from Northeast Philadelphia Airport to Springfield-Branson National Airport in Missouri when it crashed around 6:30 p.m. near the Roosevelt Mall.

Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on X that all of the travelers were Mexican nationals. The Consulate of Mexico said officials have contacted the families of all six people.

“The necessary consular assistance is being provided and working with the authorities to clarify what has happened,” the Consulate said in a translated post on Facebook.

Several “dwellings and vehicles” in Philadelphia were impacted by the crash, Parker said Friday.

Officials said the area of impact “is roughly four to six blocks” and that debris was found in remote areas. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.

A spokesperson for the air ambulance company told NBC Philadelphia that the patient was from Mexico and had come to the U.S. for “life-saving treatment” and was returning home. The ultimate destination was Tijuana International Airport, where a ground ambulance would take the child home, the spokesperson said.

Odalis Acosta, 29, said she was helping a customer at Four Seasons Diner when “everything shook.”

People in the restaurant dropped to the ground as the glass around them shattered, she said. One customer was hit in the head by a heavy piece of metal.

“You heard the explosion. I look to the side and I see through the window the big ball of explosion,” she told NBC News.