Breaking News: Plane crash in Philadelphia, Multiple houses on fire, massive emergency response эшэхех

A small medical jet carrying six people crashed in a Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood on Friday evening, officials said, sparking an explosion and setting several homes ablaze. It was unclear whether anyone on board survived. Several people on the ground were hurt, Philadelphia police said.

The plane, a Learjet 55, had just taken off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport for Springfield, Missouri, when it crashed, according to a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The plane went down in a neighborhood close to the Roosevelt Mall, shortly after taking off from an airstrip around 6:07 p.m. The first emergency calls were made approximately five minutes later, at 6:12 p.m. Philadelphia police confirmed the crash happened in the vicinity of Roosevelt Boulevard and Cottman Avenue.

The plane had six people on board, newly confirmed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said. Six of those were four crew members, a pediatric patient and the escort for the patient, according to a statement from Jet Rescue Air Ambulance.

The pediatric patient had recently completed treatment in Philadelphia and was being transported back to Mexico, a company spokesperson said. The company previously said that it could not “confirm any survivors,

Several people on the ground were injured, police said. A Temple University Hospital spokesperson said six patients were transported to Temple’s Jeanes Campus. Three were treated and released and three others remained hospitalized in fair condition, the hospital said.

The crash is under investigation by the F.A.A. and the National Transportation Safety Board. The investigation will be led by the N.T.S.B.

“Saddened to see the airplane crash in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,” President Trump said in a post on social media. “More innocent souls lost. Our people are fully committed… Yet there is already praise for a job well done for First Responders. More to follow. God Bless you all.”

Mike Driscoll, a Philadelphia City Councilmember, said in a statement that the plane crash was an “active emergency response situation” with “reported mass casualties.”

‘It is too early to know what the total number of fatalities will be,’ Philadelphia mayor says

At a news conference Friday night, the mayor of Philadelphia, Cherelle Parker, said she had “no reports on the number of fatalities.”

“So at this time, we’re just asking for prayer for any and everyone who may have been affected,” Parker said.

Several homes and vehicles were affected, Parker said. Residents were being warned to avoid the area.

We’re asking you please stay away from the scene.” If you see debris, call 911. Don’t touch anything. “This is still an active scene and investigation,” Parker said.

Parker said that federal and state agencies were either on their way to Philadelphia or already in the city.

Multiple rowhomes involved, plane parts struck cars

Several homes went up in flames in the Cottman Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard area after the crash, fire officials said. The site of the crash is in a densely populated residential neighborhood filled with lines of rowhomes.

Parts of the plane struck cars in the area, police sources told CBS News Philadelphia’s Chief Investigative Reporter Joe Holden. Several businesses around the Roosevelt Mall were also burning, sources said.

Video from a ring camera at a home in the area showed the moment the jet crashed.

The Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management posted a photo of the scene in Northeast Philadelphia. Roosevelt Boulevard and other area roads are closed, the officials said. Several authorities are responding to the area, and residents and motorists are being asked to avoid the area.

Philadelphia OEM said drivers should anticipate continued response to the scene as well as the prolonged closure of Cottman Avenue between Roosevelt Boulevard and Bustleton Avenue and the outer southbound lanes of Roosevelt Boulevard.

Residents heard their homes shake

People living nearby reported that their homes shook when the plane went down.

“I saw lights blinking down from the sky. And I just saw them going down,” said a 10-year-old boy on his way back from hockey practice. “It was really scary.”

Jimmy Weis was driving nearby when the plane crashed.

“I was actually driving, and I saw a lot of police activity and then people texting me. I was close here and that there was a plane crash,” Weis said. My daughter GPS’d me and freaked, called me and just making sure that I was OK,”

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One nearby resident, a man who gave only his first name, said he was speaking to his brother inside his home when the plane hit.

“I don’t want to say it was like an earthquake, but it was like someone banging on your front door really hard,” he said.

That was when he and his brother ran from their house to see what he called a chaotic scene with neighbors running toward the crash, he said.

Red Cross Philadelphia and the School District of Philadelphia have a shelter for anyone who needs housing or assistance at Samuel Fels High School, 5500 Langdon St.

“The mayor talks a lot about ‘one Philly,’” Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said in a second news briefing with Parker later Friday. “She talks about a ‘one operating system’ for governing, every day. Why you’re seeing this is a coordinated response to an horrific aviation disaster. As terrible as that aviation disaster was, tonight we also saw the best of Philly. We saw neighbor helping neighbor. We witnessed Pennsylvanians watching out for each other.”