Latest news Another plane crash in the USA: Jet crash in Philadelphia
There has been another plane crash in the USA within two days. In Philadelphia, a jet for a medical transport crashed in the middle of a busy area of the US East Coast city. All six people on board were killed, according to the mayor of Philadelphia, Cherelle Parker.
02.02.2025, 22:10
SDA
On the ground, another person was killed in the accident - and many were injured. At least 19 people were treated in hospitals. Shortly before, a serious plane crash in Washington with 67 fatalities had shaken the country.
A young patient and her companions die
On board the plane that crashed in Philadelphia were a young girl who had been treated in a children's hospital in the city, her mother and four crew members. All six were Mexican, as the Mexican Foreign Ministry confirmed to X. Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum expressed her sadness about the accident on X.
Emergency services in Philadelphia emphasized that the number of dead and injured could still rise. It is not conclusively clear who was on the streets of the neighborhood at the time of the impact, said a representative of the city. "So it will probably be days or longer before we can definitively answer how many people died in this tragedy and what the status of the injured is."
Crash one minute after take-off
The FAA announced that the aircraft involved in the accident was a Learjet 55 - a private and business aircraft. The plane took off from a nearby airport, Northeast Philadelphia Airport, and crashed shortly after takeoff.
"According to flight logs, the plane was in the air for only one minute before it crashed," the statement from the mayor's office said. The plane was on its way to the state of Missouri and was supposed to fly on to Mexico from there.
Philadelphia is a city of 1.5 million people on the east coast of the USA; the state of Missouri is located in the interior of the country.
Injured in parking lots, on streets, in cars and houses
The plane crashed in the middle of a busy area in the north-east of the city - with stores, residential buildings and busy roads in the evening rush hour. According to the authorities, people were injured in parking lots, on streets, in cars and in houses in the area. Rescue workers were deployed in large numbers.
Pictures from Philadelphia broadcast by US television stations showed dramatic scenes: a huge explosion, a fireball in the evening sky, large clouds of smoke and debris in the streets. Eyewitnesses reported on television that the plane had fallen from the sky like a rocket. The area was cordoned off.
It is not yet clear what caused the dramatic crash. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has begun an investigation.
"More innocent souls lost"
US President Donald Trump wrote on the Truth Social platform: "It is so sad that the plane crashed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. More innocent souls lost."
The country had just been shocked by a devastating plane crash in the capital, Washington. On Wednesday evening, an American Airlines passenger plane collided with a military helicopter on landing at Ronald Reagan Airport (DCA). Both crashed into the water. There were 60 passengers and 4 crew members on board the plane and 3 crew members on board the helicopter.
According to the authorities, all 67 people died in the accident. It was the most serious airplane accident in the USA for more than 20 years. Not all the bodies from the crash have yet been recovered.
Indication of an inconsistency in the accident in Washington
Emergency services have recovered the flight recorders of both planes and are searching for the cause of the accident. So far, there are no indications of criminality or terrorism. During the investigation, investigators discovered an inconsistency in the flight altitude of the aircraft involved.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) stated that according to data from the flight recorder, the passenger plane was at an altitude of around 99 meters at the time of the collision - plus or minus 7.6 meters. According to data from the control tower, the military helicopter was at an altitude of around 61 meters.
It is not yet clear how this discrepancy in the stated flight altitudes came about. The data is still preliminary. Investigators are working on looking into the contradiction, it was said.
Despite several airplane accidents within a few weeks, experts consider flying to be fundamentally safe. Gerald Wissel from the aviation consultancy Airborne told the German Press Agency that there are strict requirements for the certification of aircraft, but also for personnel, who must constantly prove that they are up to date. "If all this is adhered to, then flying is absolutely safe."
