In a briefing Friday night, Mayor Cherelle L. Droves of first responders filled the area near Bustleton and Cottman Avenues — a mix of commercial and residential, surrounded by strip shopping centers and abutting neighborhoods of rowhouses. Thick smoke hung in the air as police ushered onlookers away from the scene, and the mall was evacuated.
Three of the patients were treated and released, and another three remained hospitalized in fair condition, the spokesperson said. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the Learjet 55 departed from Northeast Philadelphia Airport — several miles from the mall — and crashed around p.
Flight logs show the plane was in the air for only a minute before it crashed. The company wrote that four crew members and two passengers, a pediatric patient and their escort, were on the plane. Jet Rescue said it could not confirm that anyone had survived the crash, and that names of those on board the flight would not be released until family members had been notified. Parker on Friday urged residents in the immediate area to stay inside and not interfere with the ongoing response and investigation.
The explosion rocked the surrounding neighborhood, and firefighters battled blazes in six homes on the block of Calvert Street as a result of the plane crash, according to Mike Bresnan, head of the union that represents firefighters and paramedics.
He said first responders relayed to him that the plane appeared to hit the street, that fuel or fire spread to three or four homes on the end of Calvert Street, and that the blaze jumped to several other rowhouses from there.
