Just two days after a mid-air collision between a passenger plane and an army helicopter in the US, a small medical transport plane crashed in a busy neighbourhood in the US city of Philadelphia on Friday evening, killing all six people on board and at least one other person on the ground.
The BBC confirmed the incident citing Mayor Cherelle Parker.
According to the BBC, the aircraft crashed into several buildings and injured over a dozen people.
“The jet was on a medical transport trip, heading to Tijuana, Mexico, with a short stop-over in Missouri. It was carrying a child patient and her mother, along with two pilots, a doctor and paramedic. They were all Mexican nationals.”
The BBC further reported that the Learjet 55 plummeted to the ground just one minute after take-off. Videos show the plane coming down quickly and sparking a huge fireball.
Meanwhile, the USA Today reported that the crash injured 19 others on the ground and left a path of carnage.
A huge crater was blown out of the city street where the Learjet 55 carrying six Mexican nationals nosedived into the ground at almost 300 mph, according to initial reports.
There were two chunks of the plane’s charred fuselage in the street. Several cars caught in the blast during the evening rush rested at extreme angles ‒ one was so thoroughly incinerated that only a blackened metal skeleton remained, USA Today added.
“As investigators combed the area for evidence on Saturday, residents were still reeling from the sight of the crash. People gathered in the Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood from dawn to mid-afternoon to see what remained of Friday's nightmare. They stood yards away from a debris field of broken plane pieces and singed cars to get a glimpse of the wreckage.”
There has been a spate of air accidents in recent weeks, including crashes in South Korea, Sudan and the USA, causing safety concerns among passengers.
The mid-air collision on Wednesday evening near Washington DC is believed to have killed all sixty-seven people as security forces struggle to recover bodies from Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Airport.
Meanwhile, a small aircraft carrying oil workers in South Sudan's Unity State crashed on takeoff from its oilfield airport on Wednesday, killing 20 people. Only one person survived the plane crash in South Sudan, BBC reported.
Earlier on December 29, a Jeju Airlines aircraft overshot the runway at Muan International Airport as it made an emergency belly landing and crashed into the localizer structure, killing all but two of the 181 people and crew members on board. Preliminary reports have found that the Boeing 737-800 jet crashed due to bird-strike.
A Jeju Air flight from Seoul on December 30 was forced to return after encountering a landing gear problem, NDTV reported, a day after South Korea's most deadly plane crash.
The recent incidents have alarmed passengers about safety concerns about air travel considered as the safest mode of transport. -- Agencies
