A young girl traveling home after completing “life-saving” medical treatment, her mother, and at least one medical professional were on board when an air ambulance fell out of the sky and crashed into a residential Philadelphia neighborhood.
Seven people in total have now been confirmed dead, with 19 more injured, following the shocking incident on Friday evening. Several dwellings and vehicles sustained damage in the crash.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum later confirmed that all six people onboard the flight, operated by Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, were Mexican citizens. The seventh person killed was on the ground.
Here’s what we know about the victims of the tragedy, the second aviation disaster on U.S. soil in less than 48 hours:
The flight was chartered to transport a young girl, who had just completed treatment at Shriners Children’s Philadelphia hospital. Her mother was accompanying her.
A hospital spokesperson said the child had spent four months there receiving life-saving treatment for a condition not easily treated in Mexico, and had been released from the hospital on Friday.
Shriners officials said they could not give details about the girl or her family because of patient privacy concerns.
“Her journey was one of hope and of aspiration,” spokesperson Mel Bower told The Philadelphia Inquirer. The relationships that the girl formed with staff “were true and were dear,” and she will be missed greatly by them, he said.
“It’s always a meaningful but yet emotional time for us. It’s really just been compounded by the tragic ending.”
Dr Meza was the head of neonatology for XE Médica Ambulancias, a private emergency services company, and had been providing his services to Jet Rescue Air Ambulances at the time of the incident.
Médica Ambulancias confirmed he had been on board the flight in an X post on Saturday. Meza studied medicine at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and pediatrics and neonatology at the National Institute of Pediatrics.
He was a physician assigned to the NICU at the Instituto de Salud del Estado de México in Atizapan, over 2,000 km from where the plane was due to land in Tijuana.
In its post, Médica Ambulancias said it was still awaiting further information from authorities.
Montoya was piloting the Learjet 55 at the time of the crash, while Juarez served as his co-pilot.
Juárez lived in central Mexico, loved salsa dancing and video games and had been a pilot for more than a decade, his brother told The Associated Press. He loved to fly and worked for the air ambulance service for more than a year, flying mostly from Mexico’s Caribbean coast to the United States.
“He was always aware that he had his risks, but the truth is that more accidents happen on the road,” Édgar Juárez said.
The co-pilot’s family has stayed away from TV and social media to avoid seeing images of the crash, he told AP, adding that they were planning to hold a family ceremony in his memory.
In the hours before the crash, Juarez had shared an image on social media of an airplane and the call letters for Northeast Philadelphia Airport. “Now if I went all the way home to the… Far away…,” he captioned the post.
The sixth passenger on the air ambulance has yet to be identified. Authorities have not released further details.
Gold said the company would be identifying the victims in a news release later on Saturday. “Our immediate concern is for the patient’s family, our personnel, their families and other victims that may have been hurt on the ground,” Gold said.
A person in a car was the seventh fatal victim of the fiery crash, authorities said Saturday, though did not provide any further information about their identity.
Nineteen others were injured in the incident, though authorities predict that this number may rise.
Philadelphia city managing director Adam Thiel said there are “a lot of unknowns about who was where on the streets” when the plane crashed, and it is possible that the casualty figures will grow.
One unidentified patron at the Four Seasons Diner on Cottman Avenue was hit and injured by a small but heavy metal object that flew through the window, according to one of the staff, who spoke to AP.
Spokespersons for Temple University Hospital-Jeanes and Jefferson Health, which treated the injured, said most of the patients they saw were released by midday, but at least three remained hospitalized.